Ripon Laundry Dry Cleaners was located at the corner of Seward and Fond du Lac streets in the 1930s. Miller’s Tavern now sits at that location.
Chinese Laundry, owned and operated by Yep Sing at 220 Main (Watson ) St., ran this advertisement in the 1893 city of Ripon Directory.
Ripon Steam Laundry, located at 120 Blossom St., ran this advertisement in the 1893 city of Ripon Directory.
This Ripon Laundry & Dry Cleaners Receipt from 1932 for $3.65 would be $6.21 in 2022.
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Ripon Laundry Dry Cleaners was located at the corner of Seward and Fond du Lac streets in the 1930s. Miller’s Tavern now sits at that location.
As fashion clothing changes in America today, people are now needing less dry cleaning.
Due to what once was called “casual Fridays,” when people were allowed to wear more relaxed and less business-like clothes to work, this eventually evolved into a “casual work week” (meaning to wear relaxed and casual clothing full-time).
We’re now wearing casual, lower-maintenance clothing made from cotton, polyester and nylon-blended fibers and materials.
When Ripon was founded in the mid-1850s, doing laundry was hard work and a major chore in most households.
Dirty and soiled clothing was soaked overnight, then “soaped” using a lye mixture, boiled in water, rinsed, wrung out, dried, starched and ironed or pressed using equipment and implements that in the early days were heated on wood burning stoves.
This eventually changed when washing machines were introduced.
In 1908, Ripon hardware store owners Joe Barlow and John Seelig purchased a number of recently invented hand-powered “washing machines” from a manufacturer in Kansas City, Mo. to sell to their customers.
After experimenting with the machines, they devised a way to increase the machine’s efficiency through high-speed gearing.
The company eventually manufactured washing machines powered by engines that made doing laundry much easier.
In the 1920s, laundry services were introduced.
Included were public laundromats, which originally were known as “wash-a-terias.”
And for convenience, laundry services were made available by door-to-door pickup and delivery services for those who could afford to hire an outside business to do this work for them.
Chinese Laundry, owned and operated by Yep Sing at 220 Main (Watson ) St., ran this advertisement in the 1893 city of Ripon Directory.
These laundry services did not suffer a complete economical setback in the 1930s due to the Great Depression in America because people wanted assistance cleaning and maintaining their clothes.
At this same time, in the mid-1800s “dry cleaning” for heavier materials was invented using kerosene and gasoline (referred to at that time as “cleaning solvents”).
Dry cleaning worked well taking out spots and cleaning wool clothing, linen draperies and tablecloths and other specialty fabrics.
Although the details aren’t completely documented and there may not be photos, Ripon, like many towns and cities, did have laundry services listed in the 1893 city directory.
They included George Carter’s Ripon Steam Laundry at 120 Blossom St. and Yep Sing Chinese Laundry at 220 Main St.
Ripon Steam Laundry, located at 120 Blossom St., ran this advertisement in the 1893 city of Ripon Directory.
In 1959, Bill Mason (1906-1988) of Minnesota purchased the former Ripon Lumber Co. (the location of both Payless Auto Service and Miller’s Tavern) in 1959 and converted the existing buildings into a parking lot.
He also created the Ripon Laundry and later Vogue Cleaners — a combination laundry and dry cleaning service that later thrived into the 2000s at various other locations.
This service laundered and dry cleaned clothing of all types.
Vogue cleaned rugs, offered dye-matching colors for clothes, coats and hats, plus tailoring including mending and alterations.
Also, the business offered two-day service and if people needed an item cleaned faster 24-hour service was available with an added rush-charge.
Sales were cash and carry — meaning no credit cards or extended charge account payments.
This Ripon Laundry & Dry Cleaners Receipt from 1932 for $3.65 would be $6.21 in 2022.
Boasting modern equipment, Vogue installed a high-pressure boiler and vacuum system for cleaning clothes, commercial ironing equipment for pressing out wrinkles, extracting machinery to remove dirt and spots, body forms for pressing ladies’ and mens’ apparel and a drapery pleater for curtains and drapes.
Upon cleaning, clothes were inspected, sorted and packaged for delivery to customers’ homes or self-pick up.
The business used several thousand metal clothes hangers and protective plastic bags every year.
Dry cleaning and laundry pickup and door delivery still exist in many towns and cities today.
Ripon had such a business in the early to mid-1900s.
The Ripon Historical Society is the oldest continually operating historical society in Wisconsin. It is open Fridays and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information follow us at Facebook/riponhistory or www.riponhistory.org.
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