| Marjorie Bourne Thayer, youngest daughter of Frederick Gilbert Bourne, who was known as an avid sports woman, added what is now referred to as Marjorie's Wing to Singer Castle in 1928. Included in her suite of rooms are a large six-windowed bedroom with sitting area, a dressing area with several closets and a sports therapy room.
The sports therapy room includes: a bath tub, a large shower much like the rain showers of today, a heated towel rack, a massage table, a glassed closet for medicine, a combination stove and refrigerator, a dressing table, a w.c. and a Battle Creek Electric Light Bath Cabinet. The Bath Cabinet is said to be one of five known to still be in existence. Invented by Dr. Donald MacDougall who was a student of the controversial Dr. John Kellogg of Journey to Wellville fame and a graduate of the National College of Electro-therapeutics, the Bath Cabinet did not remain in production for very long. It has a reflective interior and is lined with light bulbs. The person using the cabinet sat on a wooden stool with their feet in buckets of water and the cabinet was closed around them and then turned on. It has been noted that water and electricity do not mix and the safety of the cabinet was debatable. The cabinet has also been referred to as both an early sauna and as a tanning cabinet.
The Battle Creek Electric Bath Cabinet is just one of many antique pieces to be seen at Singer Castle. Come and visit. The castle is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Labor Day and Saturdays and Sundays through the first weekend in October.
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