The Laundry Business Boom of 1870
A local editor observes the financial success of Chinese laundries in California and urges Seattle entrepreneurs to claim the market.
The story, cleaned up
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If there is one thing needed in Seattle, it is a laundry under the control of some enterprising person. Many of the Chinese laundries have been quite successful. The only fault is that they are too meticulous, keeping the clothes to wash and starch them, and after this, they are quite mobilized against articles of clothing which they are not willing to replace. What is needed here in Seattle is for some one to start a laundry out at the lake where water and wood will cost hardly anything, get a good delivery wagon, and he would find plenty to do. From the fact that we have seen parties succeed in California, in such an enterprise, we may predict for the person that starts such an establishment in this city certain success, providing it is managed properly. He would soon monopolize about all the laundry business in the city.
“What is needed here in Seattle is for some one to start a laundry... and he would find plenty to do.”
This article highlights the long history of laundries as a point of entry for immigrant labor in Seattle, echoing the city's ongoing economic conversations about how labor sectors are managed and who controls the business of essential services. It also reflects the xenophobic tone of the era, which framed the success of immigrant-owned businesses through a lens of suspicion while simultaneously recognizing their economic necessity.
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