LAUNDROMAT COULD MAKE HISTORIC NATIONAL REGISTER

In San Francisco, the Brainwash Cafe Laundromat presents comedy and musical entertainment while you wash and dry.

At the Boulevard Laundromat at 15 S. West End Boulevard, watching the spin cycle is as entertaining as it gets, but something else may make this Laundromat special. Cape Girardeau's oldest Laundromat could be an historic landmark.

The building has been used continuously as a Laundromat since 1947. If a building is more than 50 years old and its integrity has been maintained, it is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The Boulevard Laundromat has not changed since an addition was built in 1948, according to Cynthia Pigg. Pigg is a historic preservation major at Southeast who has researched both the laundry business and the Boulevard Laundromat.

She identifies the Boulevard Laundromat building as a German vernacular design, which has one or two stories and two rows of arching over the windows. However, most German vernacular houses were built much earlier than this building.

Pigg theorizes that making the building look like a house may have made the public more comfortable with the idea of doing their laundry there.

Continuous use is another qualifying factor for historic recognition, according to Roger Maserang, a National Register historian with the Missouri Historic Preservation Program. Maserang's job is to review applications for the National Register and decide whether they should advance to the next stage.

An uncommon landmark

The absence of any Laundromats on Missouri's list of National Register sites may make the building even more valuable historically.

Perhaps most important of all historically, the building represents a cultural trend.

The first Laundromat, called a "washateria," opened in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1934. The four electric washing machines were rented by the hour. Users were obliged to provide their own soap.

Self-serve Laundromats really became popular after World War II. Pigg says this occurred because the new generation of machines weren't as rough on clothing and because people were more mobile.

After the war, many people couldn't afford to have washing machines in their own homes. Even some who could afford their own machines used Laundromats to save money and time, she says.

Manufacturers of washing machines fought back by trying to make housewives feel as if doing the wash at home was their "duty," Pigg says.

The business was opened by John Westcoat in 1947 as a cleaning and pressing shop. In 1949, it became known as Cape Self Serve Laundry and progressed through three owners under that name until the Pure Ice Co. took over the business in 1960, renaming it Boulevard Laundrymat -- Coin Operated.

In the mid-'60s it became the D&V Laundry and was owned by James R. Dean and Dean Vandiver.

By 1970, both the D&V Laundry and Harley Clark's Boulevard Laundry were operating at the same location. Pigg says Dean, Vandiver and Clarke may have had a partnership or perhaps Dean and Vandiver were turning the business over to Clarke. He was the sole owner from 1971 to 1978.

E. Russ Young and Mildred Fox took over ownership in 1979. Young left and was replaced by Russell Campbell as an owner. Fox was the sole owner in 1998. Now Campbell has the business by himself.

He thinks the building actually is older than Pigg's research indicates. He recalls walking by it on his way home from Franklin School in 1942.

The building is owned by Tom Tipton, owner of the nearby Tipton's Linen & Uniform Service. Tipton bought the building last year and fears a listing on the National Register would prevent him from making alternations to the site.

Campbell says the wash and dry business is very competitive, and his is known for good dryers. "I've got a lady who comes from Oak Ridge because we've got better dryers," he says.

Patrons get 12 minutes for a quarter. Some Laundromats have cut back to seven or eight minutes, Campbell says.

The Laundromat has a 320-gallon water heater, and he recently spent $12,000 on two huge new washing machines.

Laundromat owners have a saying, he says: "I like to hear those quarters drop."

Maserang says other businesses that represent cultural trends so far are missing from Missouri's list of National Register sites as well.

"We don't have any drive-in movie theaters listed either," he said.