Tramp Houses Provided Shelter Just For One Night
By the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, vagabonds or “tramps” were no longer being kicked out of towns. They were accepted as being a reality of life with men moving from town to town looking for work. There was an uptick of traveling “tramps” due to an increase in railroads throughout the United States. This began secret lodgings called “Tramp Houses”, which were very tiny one-room shacks. They only had a bed and a heater to help keep a traveler warm for one night before they moved on to their next location. Usually, these tramp houses were a secret. It wasn’t published at all, because the town didn’t want their citizens to know that it was hiding these migrants and giving them a free place to stay.