Algoma's Steam Laundry

eHow tells us steam washers operate as do traditional washers, however employ the added benefits of steam. When steam is injected into the water washing, there is additional cleaning power. With that comes refreshing, sanitizing, and odor and  wrinkle removal. Did Algoma’s steam laundry operate in such a fashion? Though its steam facilities were not the same as those featured on TV commercials today, it was certainly state-of-the-art for the time, and its services were in high demand one hundred years ago.

In 1903 Algoma boasted the opening of the new Steam Laundry in the structure along the south side of the Ahnapee River, previously called the White Front building. In an earlier time the brick building was the site of Rod Berrio's, John Barrand’s and Jim McCulfor’s saloons, Cameron and Nelson’s marble shop, John Charles' blacksmith shop and  William Boldt’s cigar factory. A younger generation remembers Ralph Hubbard’s welding shop and then Kurt Baum.

The building at 93 Steele Streets no longer exists. Neither do the docks which once serviced it and the community. When Joe Drobnik opened his Steam Laundry at what some might call the northeast corner of First and Steele, the laundry was the first stop for visiting ships’ crewmen. Not only was it a chance to get their clothes washed, but the men could clean up themselves as well. The facility offered showers for the crew and for town bachelors living in hotels or rented rooms. As late as the 1950s, Timble’s barbershop, the site of today’s Community Improvement Association, sported a little sign on the window indicating “shower baths” were available. The need was still there.

It was in 1902 that Martin Bretl bought the White Front building for use as a steam laundry. A year later he sold to Joseph Drobnik of Milwaukee who actually opened the laundry. At Drobnik’s grand opening a few days before Halloween, the city’s ladies were presented with carnations as they inspected the new machinery, which was said to be the best available. The laundry was met with more interest than anticipated, and it was felt it would be a huge success. Drobnik thought his facilities were of the latest design and that his work could not be equaled by anywhere along the lakeshore.

Drobnik prospered and continued to make news in 1907 when he installed a two-ton machine in which he could wash an astounding 300 shirts at once. So popular was his service that his plant was crowded to capacity as customers came in droves from surrounding towns. By 1916 he bought a Ford delivery truck and built a garage behind the laundry. Drobnik remained in business for 25 years before others took it over. Conrad Menne was leasing the laundry in 1930 when he added dry cleaning and pressing equipment.

Trucks and the railroad had taken over freight transportation so significantly that by the late 1920s the Steam Laundry was no longer feasible, and a 1931 sheriff’s sale closed of the business. Perhaps the Depression forced people to care for their own clothing or perhaps it was competition. Algoma had another laundry operating at the same time. It was thought to be somewhat of a novelty as it was a “real” Chinese laundry. Wah Lee, a "Chinaman," rented Martin Bretl's 4th Street building to open a laundry in 1922, however it was not in business long and its history is not known. Those who wanted baths could go to Timble’s Barbershop. Lee was not the lone Chinese in Kewaunee County. Charlie Toy operated his laundry on northeast corner of Dodge and Harrison Streets years earlier.

Platted as Lots 5 and 6 of Block 1 of Youngs and Steele Plat, the property has had somewhat of a storied past. Early resident David Youngs – one of the men who platted most of what became downtown Algoma and one for whom the Youngs and Steele is named - built his home there in 1854. His store was just to the east. Caroline Witte was 12 when she arrived in Wolf River (now Algoma) in1856 with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Berndt. In a 1925 interview she remembered the Young buildings being of slab construction and told about slabs found along the beach being stood on end to provide temporary shelters. Before Youngs’ untimely death in 1873, he was a prominent business force in both Kewaunee and Door Counties.

Time marches on, and today there is no evidence of the steam laundry or David Youngs’ in Algoma. Youngs’ descendants can be found from San Antonio to Washington. Depending on the size of a community, there might be coin operated laundromats and, perhaps, even a dry cleaners. Gone from Algoma are the mangles and other huge presses. A younger generation has no idea what an iron is, let alone a mangle. Easy care fabrics and dryers with sensors have eliminated most ironing. And steam washers? Today they would be sold in appliance stores, but they wouldn't weigh two tons.

 Photographs are taken from Commercial History of Algoma, WI, Vol. 1, c. 2006, and Vol. 2 c. 2012, and are used with permission. Information comes from Algoma Record Herald.