The Hot Tub over Time

Hot tubs have been around as long as man. Since 2000 B.C when the Egyptians used hot baths for therapeutic value, man has known about the healing power of hot tubs.  It’s been reported that in 600 B.C., the Persian king Phraortes built one of the first hot tubs. Other primitive versions of hot tubs were calderas which are the cauldron-like volcanic holes usually formed in the earth following a volcanic eruption. Even philosophers including Plato and Hippocrates believed in the therapeutic value of water. Those philosophers were definitely on to something!

Later on the Japanese and Roman cultures integrated hot tubs into their lifestyles. The ancient Romans used three types of baths: the home bath (balnea), the private bath (balnea privata), and the public bath (balnea publica). Even when the Roman army was occupying foreign lands, they built their own baths in mineral and thermal springs.

It was really int the 1940s that the hot tubs craze hit North America.  The Jacuzzi brothers introduced hydrotherapy pumps were introduced by Jacuzzi. Fiberglass shell hot tubs made their appearance in the 1970’s and eventually overtaken by cast acrylic shells. The 1980s saw the introduction of models that worked as hot tubs, whirlpool baths, or sometimes both. Waterfalls were incorporated into the design with the increased flexibility of being installed indoors or out. The designs that came later expanded on these features and the rest is history.