The History of Laundry Begins With Early Civilizations

The cost of wool and clothes made of wool made washing necessary, so
early civilizations washed their clothes in rivers. Before the invention of
detergent, removing dirt and stains from clothing required a lot of muscle
power. Laundry meant hard twisting and slapping the clothing against rocks
on the river, stomping on the clothes, and using paddles and washboards
to, quite literally, beat the dirt out of the fibers.

Before the invention of modern detergent, civilizations of the past used

animal fat or lye to wash clothes. At other times, they used chamber lye – a
conspicuous nickname for urine (collected from the chamber pots of the
citizenry – hence, "chamber" lye) for washing clothing. Other cleaning
agents were also used, like natron, which was a favored cleaning agent for
both the body and clothing in ancient Egypt.

Because of the physical demands of the chore, laundering clothes was

limited to a few times a year and was delegated to men. In fact, in Ancient
Rome, the job of laundering was a duty performed by men called fullones
who took care of the used clothing of practically the whole city. In terms of
the history of laundry, this was the beginning of the communal nature of
laundry.

Communal Washhouses
At the dawn of the Middle Ages, the fullones waned in popularity and most
households did their own laundry, with women taking over the job.

Many cities across Europe developed communal washhouses or lavoirs, a

large stone or wooden tub that held water, where the women gathered and
did their laundry together. It was not uncommon for a large copper pot of
water to be boiling nearby as people began discovering the effectiveness of
hot water in softening the grip of stains on fabric fibers, making their
removal so much easier.

The Industrial Revolution

In the 19th century, the first versions of the modern washing machine made
an appearance. The handheld mechanism was pretty simple: the machines
consisted of a tub base, paddles or rods, and a handle that turned the rods.
Other versions involved a rotating tub or drum instead of paddles. Both
designs sought to agitate the dirt off of fabrics. Some of the names credited
with the invention of the early washing machines are James King, Hamilton
Smith, and William Blackstone, who was said to have invented the
automatic washing machine as a gift to his wife.

These machines were accompanied by a mangle, a hand-operated wringer

that completely removed the need to twist clothes manually to squeeze out
all the water.

The Modern Washing Machine

Thomas Edison's pioneering work in electricity accelerated America's
industrial progress. Until the late 1800s, home washing machines were
hand-powered, while commercial machines were driven by steam and
belts. That all changed in 1908 with the introduction of the Thor, the first
commercial electric washer.

The Thor, the invention of Alva J. Fisher, was marketed by the Hurley
Machine Company of Chicago. It was a drum-type washing machine with a
galvanized tub. Throughout the 20th century, Thor continued to make
innovations in washing machine technology. In 2008, the trademark was
bought out by Los Angeles-based Appliances International and soon
introduced a new line under the Thor name.

Even as Thor was changing the commercial laundry business, other

companies had their eye on the consumer market, perhaps most notably
the Maytag Corporation that got its start in 1893 when F.L. Maytag began
manufacturing farm implements in Newton, Iowa. Business was slow in
winter, so to add to his line of products, Maytag introduced a wooden-tub
washing machine in 1907. Not long after, Maytag decided to devote himself
full-time to the washing machine business. The Whirlpool Corporation,
another well-known brand, debuted in 1911 as the Upton Machine Co., in
St. Joseph, Mich., producing electric motor-driven wringer washers.

Modern Laundry Services

While fullones and washerwomen provided laundering services in the days
before medieval times, the commercial laundry services of modern times
have their earliest history in the laundry shops of Chinese immigrants in
New York.

The modern laundry of today—with its advanced use of more effective

detergents, more technological machinery, and streamlined operations—
owes much of its advancements to the grease work and ingenuity of the
launderers of the past. But one thing has remained the same: the goal of
getting every last bit of stain, dirt, and grime off of every piece of fabric.