A Tale Of Two Laundry Formats On Chattanooga's Cameron Hill

The opening paragraph of the “Laundry” entry on Wikipedia includes this observation: “Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this universal human need are of interest to several branches of scholarship.”

Our laundry method when I was growing up was a Maytag wringer washer whose operation fascinated five-year-old me.  It was interesting to watch the water being squeezed out of the clothes by the rollers.  My mother was far less fascinated because of the time that was required.  She soon switched to a more modern Maytag washer which was less fascinating but more automated than the wringer washer that it replaced. 

Chattanooga’s pre-Urban Renewal Cameron Hill featured two laundries which used different formats.  There was the Johnson Hand Laundry whose staff worked very hard to launder clothes using wash boards, bar soap, and manual labor.  A later arrival was the 30-minute Self-serv Laundry which used coin-operated machines. 

JOHNSON HAND LAUNDRY

The Johnson laundry first appeared in the 1928 Chattanooga city directory.  Charles H. Johnson was the owner of the enterprise and employed various managers over time.  He lived above his laundry business, according to the 1928 directory

The clothes were washed and air-dried at 221 West Ninth St. near the Read House and near Chattanooga’s former five points intersection of West Ninth, Chestnut, and Carter streets.  It was a busy area of downtown.  Passengers arriving at the Union Depot across Ninth might have their laundry done at Johnson’s.  The Arch L. Fox Furniture Store was an adjacent neighbor on West Ninth.  One could shop for a sofa while laundry was being soaped.

The Oct. 23, 1944 Chattanooga Times reported that 26 Chattanooga businesses were replacing traditional coal boilers with coal stoker boilers.  Johnson Hand Laundry was on the list.  The objective was to reduce air pollution in the Chattanooga area, and was mandated by a July, 1942 city ordinance. 

The Johnson Hand Laundry continued into the late 1950’s before its building was claimed by Urban Renewal razing.   

30 MINUTE SELF-SERVICE LAUNDRY

Max Schleifer was owner of this establishment which began after the end of World War II.  It was located across West 12^th Street at 1224 Poplar St.  Mr. Schleifer resided at 520 1/2 Arcadia Avenue on Cameron Hill, several blocks north of his business.

The era of laundromats included automated washers and dryers that did most of the work once done by hand.  After putting some coins into the slot and loading the laundry into the washing machine or dryer, one could shop next door at 1222 Poplar for groceries at Jake’s Food Market.  Jacob Goldstein was proprietor of the small neighborhood grocery, one of several at Cameron Hill.

Mr. Schleifer was active in several business and religious activities in Chattanooga. 

If you have additional information on these businesses and their owners, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.