National Laundry Day

For most of the nineteenth century, getting clothes clean meant a washboard. Stephen Rust patented a fluted metal washboard in the United States in 1833, a ridged surface set in a wooden frame. Clothes were soaked, soaped, then rubbed up and down against the ridges until the dirt loosened. The work was heavy enough that households gave it a fixed slot in the week rather than fit it in anywhere.

That slot was Monday. Washing on the Victorian "wash day" gave clothes the rest of the week to dry, be pressed, and be folded before Sunday. The whole household calendar bent around the wash.

Not everyone could buy a washer, or even afford electricity, so the machine came to them. The first self-service laundry, a "Washateria," opened on April 18, 1934, in Fort Worth, Texas, with four electric machines rented by the hour. The name spliced "wash" onto "cafeteria," the affordable serve-yourself eatery of the era. There were no dryers and an attendant stayed on duty, so customers carried wet laundry home.