Public laundries are the precursors of modern self-service laundromats, places where the washerwomen of old used to wash clothes with soap, using a wooden board or even a stone. The washerwomen sometimes added ashes and sand to their rudimentary detergent to remove the most resistant smells and stains. The first laundromat was created in Texas in the 1930’s and except during the 50’s when most homes got equipped with their own washers, they kept booming and generating revenue ever since.
Today, self-service laundromats have little in common with laundries of yesterday: washing is no longer a chore, and washing machines have never been more efficient.