Claycomb Hall News Today

Jeff Rankin: Before automatic washers, steam laundries relieved drudgery By Jeff Rankin The Rankin File Throughout much of the 19th century, most laundry was done by hand in a laborious process that often stretched over three days. Some cities offered commercial laundries, but the work was still done by hand, often by Chinese immigrants who toiled long working days for minimal wages. The invention of the steam laundry began to change all that. Steam laundries did not clean with steam. Rather, t...