1930’s – Washing, Drying, and Ironing

January 1, 1930

Our Mothers did not have washing machines.  They washed the clothes in double wash basins in the cellar.  They rubbed them over a scrubbing board.  There was a wringer on the edge of the tub that they could run the clothes through to get most of the moisture out.

For diapers, underwear and sheets, they had a copper double wash tub that sat on a double burner stove in the cellar.  They heated the water to boiling and stirred the clothes around with a huge paddle-like stick.

There were no dryers then.  Our Mothers carried the wet clothes up the cellar steps in a basket and hung them on clothes-lines with wooden clothes-pins to dry.

Ironing was done with a heavy iron that had to be heated on the top of the stove.

Diapers were hung on the line too.  They were pretty scratchy when they dried.  Then they had to be folded.  They were held on with two big safety pins.  If the baby squirmed he could get stuck.

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