Have you ever stopped to think about how all those guys who lived in South and East Halls in the early days got their clothes clean?
What?? You haven’t?!?
Well, I have. There really weren’t any laundry facilities in those bare-bones buildings. The answer is that they sent them out. Some went downtown to guys like “Uncle Pike,” who bought this prominent ad in the 1916 Campanile. (I think he might be claiming a bit too much, but hey, why risk it?)
My sense is that many others employed women who lived in the general vicinity of campus. They would come by the back of the dorms in wagons, load up the bundles and then bring back the clean clothes the next day. Here’s a striking image I found today in Carl Knapp’s scrapbook of a local yard on wash day:
Bonus: After the first showing of the spectacle ended late on Thursday night, the set up for the Friday morning procession had to be done overnight. Here are a couple cool pictures sent in by Dr. Keith Cooper, who seems to have gotten little sleep during this extravaganza.
