419 W Vliet St

Summary

McCullough and Dixon Steam Laundry and Soap Company
419 West Vliet Street, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
Date of Construction: 1888

The McCullough and Dixon Steam Laundry and Soap Company built this Second Empire-Style industrial building in 1888 for their thriving business in 1888. Today, the building serves as a rare example of the Second Empire Style applied to an industrial loft building. It is also the oldest remaining purpose-built steam laundry building in Milwaukee and the only one left from the Late Victorian period when commercial steam laundries were gaining in popularity.

In the 1880s, the commercial laundry industry was in its infancy. Rising standards of cleanliness and increasingly polluted urban areas plus the introduction of urban water systems came together to create an industry out of a domestic chore. Most customers were middle- and upper-class women who wanted an alternative to doing laundry themselves. The steam laundry appealed to those who felt the commercial laundry offered a more hygienic, technologically advanced method of cleaning. To enhance their image of a cleaner method of laundering, the McCullough and Dixon Steam Laundry took great care with its public lobby, installing art glass over an ornamental stone entry hood and a paneled lobby with interior windows. Incredibly, this historic lobby and entrance are still intact today. The Cream City brick exterior retains its brick pilasters, cornices, and window detailing.

Key aspects of the historic laundry remain intact. The elevator dates to the time of construction. It would have been used to transport heavy, wet laundry from the basement, where the washing was done, to the first floor for drying, folding, ironing, and packaging. In the basement, original drain troughs remain in the floor. The washing process in 1888 was a hot, steamy, wet affair. After agitating in the large machines, which lacked covers, the water was drained out of the tubs, more water added through several cycles to rinse, and then the water completely drained using only gravity. The water would have been heated by a coal-fed boiler. The coal chute and coal room are also still in place.

The upper two stories of the building contained the soap manufacturing processes. McCullough Soap Company preceded the laundry business as a soap manufacturer who sold their Magnetic Soap throughout Milwaukee. The freight elevator continues to the upper levels to aid the process of transferring materials and finished products.

This unique property tells the story of an architectural style, type of building, and industry that is rare in Wisconsin.

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