Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Page 1121

 GARST, FRASER & GARST. The Wichita Steam Laundry was established in 1885 by Mr. Garst, who invested in the project about $25,000. It is located on West Douglas avenue, and is finely equipped with the latest improved machinery for conducting this industry after the best methods. They have five steam hydraulic washing cylinders in which the clothes are first cleansed, a machine for starching, and a commodious drying-room with sliding doors. A fifty-horse‑power boiler furnishes the steam and runs the machinery. The wringing and ironing are also done by machinery. They have a mangle for hotel supplies, sheets, towels, etc., and the whole business is superintended by a skillful foreman who has had an experience of fifteen years, and is considered one of the best of his kind in the country. During the busy season they give employment to about thirty persons, and ordinarily employ about twenty. They turn out about 1,000 shirts per week, besides thousands of other pieces, and do the largest business in their line of any establishment of the kind in the city.

             The patronage of this house, it is hardly necessary to say, has been built up by the promptness and reliability of the firm, who are straightforward business men, and conduct this very important industry in the best possible manner. They have as competitors about fifty Chinese laundries in the city, and do at least half of the work done here. The goods come from this establishment thoroughly cleansed, and the starched articles highly polished in the best style of the art. There is no doubt but that this is the best equipped and largest steam laundry in the State of Kansas, and in its workings amply illustrates the axiom that whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.

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