News & announcements
Saving your history
Early accounts
Maps
Nearby towns
People
Churches
Schools
Municipal
Organizations
Businesses
The mines
Transportation
Streets
Buildings
Entertainment
Celebrations
Sports
Ethnic groups
19th-century laundries
What's on this page:
- Laundries listed in
directories and
maps, 1895-1901
- 20th-century laundries and dry cleaners
- 19th-century clothing stores
- 19th-century shoe stores
- 19th-century shoemakers
and shoe repair shops
- 19th-century jewelers, watch stores and watch repair
- 19th-century tailors, seamstresses and milliners
- Sewing machines
and fabric stores
The ad
at top left comes from the Freeland
Tribune in 1889. This photo came from John Zubach, of women
doing laundry in
old Freeland. When we think of labor-saving devices, electric washing
machines that didn't involve wringers have to be very high on the list
of things to be grateful for. A picture is worth a thousand words, and
this one really conveys the sheer, unending drudgery of doing
laundry back
then. Families were often large, women's clothing involved more fabric,
and for miners, diggers and others doing similar hard and dirty work,
the laundry situation was that much more difficult.Doing laundry for others outside her own family was also a way for women to earn money, adding to her own burden but also adding to the family's resources. So some women were doing double the laundry, or more.
For those who
could afford it, there were several local alternatives.
You could hire an individual to do your laundry. You could patronize a
Chinese laundry -- there were Chinese folks doing this work in Freeland
at least since 1889, the date of Ling Lee's ad at the top left of this
page. There was also at least one steam
laundry that could handle large loads and extra-soiled clothing. And
for more well-off
people with more delicate and/or intricately-designed clothing,
Hazleton had some laundries that could handle things like ironing
women's puffed sleeves without creasing or squashing them.In his history of Freeland, Charles Stumpf included mentioned several early laundries:
About Chinese laundries, he wrote: "It may surprise most readers to learn that Freeland had a number of Chinese laundries in early days. The first was located at 49 Washington Street and was run by Ling Lee in 1890. Charlie Ying offered similar services in 1896, and in 1911 the Chinese laundry was operated by Dong Lee."
The ad at the top left corner of this page for Ling Lee's Chinese laundry was published in the Freeland Tribune in 1889, shared by Ed Merrick.
In the section of his book about
1900, he wrote: "The Freeland Steam Laundry obtained a larger
and improved
washing machine and also put a new delivery wagon into service."The legal notice from 1899 comes from Ed Merrick, saying that August Restenberger would be the sole owner going forward, as his partner William Jones was retiring. In November 1900, Clifford H. Heller was the manager.
Laundries in Freeland
1889 ad, not listed in directory:
Ling Lee, Chinese laundry, 49 Washington
1895 Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. map
Chinese laundry at 92 S. Centre (now that address would be 430 Centre)
1897 city directory
Laundries in business listings:
Enterprise Steam Laundry, E. C. and J. O. Brelsford props. - Highland road
Jeung, Charles - 88 S Centre, h, w
Man Jung - 88 S Centre (now that address would be 434 Centre), h
1899 legal notice, not listed in directory:
Freeland Steam Laundry - August Resterberger (previously in partnership with William Jones)
1900 Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. map
Chinese laundry at 92 S. Centre
1900-1901 city directory
Laundries in business listings:
Ying Lee, laundry, Centre