Source: *ProQuest Historical Newspapers Boston Globe (1872-1923), June 12, 1900 page 8
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A public laundry and wash house is the latest, and not by any means the least, among Boston's charitable interests. It has just been opened at the West End, and is intended as a place where women may bring their washing and do it for a nominal sum. Everything except the "elbow grease" is furnished - set tubs, hot bater, washboards, soap, wringers, driers, irons and ironing boards.
The idea comes from London. There the public laundries have become so well established that women go and wait for a turn at a washtub. In Boston, however, and in this country, the idea is new and novel. The aim of the promoters is not only to furnish the necessary convenience for washerwomen, but at the same time to make the homes of washerwomen more healthful, by abolishing the steam and odor from the homes. The public laundry is located at 31 Fruit Street, near the corner of North Anderson Street. A brick building, formerly occupied as a tenement house, has been secured, and this has been wholly remodeled and arranged. It is as clean and sweet now as paint and whitewash can make it. The latest ideas in domestic science as applied to the laundry, and the newest and best ideas as regards plumbing and sanitation, are installed in the new wash house. The establishment contains seven pairs of tubs, each pair being located in a booth, where the washerwoman may have privacy and seclusion and safety. All the necessary equipment for the work is provided. The water is heated by steam, a brass steam pipe running into each tub, making it possible to heat the water to any degree desired and to keep it at the desired temperature. By the same method the clothes can be boiled in the tub. Beside each pair of tubs is a separate drier for the washing, and by means of it the clothing can be dried almost as fast as washed. Within an hour an ordinary family wash can be washed, boiled and dried. In another room are ironing tables and boards. Irons are heated by gas, and as many as a dozen women may iron at the same time. Still another feature, although subordinate to the general scheme, is a bathroom, where for a few cents women may have the privilege of a bath, with plenty of hot water, towels and soap provided, amid perfectly clean surroundings. Mr. and Mrs. John Kay, who were in charge of the public baths on Harrison Avenue, near Harvard Street, for some years, are in charge of the new public laundry, and the same philanthropic men and women who instituted there the public baths, and maintained them until the city undertook the work, are interested in this newer enterprise. ProQuest Historical Newspapers Boston Globe (1872-1923) - June 12, 1900, page 8. |