During the 19th century, the most prevalent occupation for Chinese men who settled in the Boston area was being a laundryman. This was also true for many cities across the country, especially as the Chinese had few available options, being barred from many other occupations.
The first Chinese laundry in the U.S. likely opened in San Francisco in 1851, and the first Chinese laundry in Boston, noted as a “California Chinese Laundry,” opened in February 1875 at 299 Tremont Street. It was owned by Wah Lee & Co., a group of four Chinese businessmen.
A lengthy article in the Boston Daily Advertiser, February 18, 1875, went into great detail about the new Chinese laundry, as well as discussing the alleged Chinese problem, fears of cheap Chinese labor. It began noting that the “Chinese problem” hadn’t bothered Boston yet but the writer was now concerned that Boston had “been invaded, and a veritable Chinese laundry is in successful operation in our city.”
It was feared that this Chinese laundry would cause white, washing-women to go out of business, who already made barely enough money for their needs. It was claimed that the Chinese charged “ruinously low charges for their work” and their “inexplicable economy of living, which allows them to live and thrive contented with these wages.”
The Chinese laundry was said to be a cheap wooden building, poorly lighted, which employed 4 Chinese workers. There was a printed list of prices and when you dropped off clothes, you received a check inscribed with Chinese characters, and a duplicate was kept by the laundry. Their prices included shirts for 15 cents (or 2 for 25 cents), collar 4 cents, handkerchief 4 cents, pair stockings 5-10 cents, neckties 4 cents, table covers 15-75 cents, and overskirts 50 cents-$2.50. Clothes would also be washed and dried for 80 cents a dozen.
Clothes were taken every day of the week and returned 3-4 days later. If you wanted the clothes delivered to you, you simply had to pay in advance. In addition, there was “no allowance for clothes said to be lost unless reported within 24 hours after delivered.” Wah Lee owned a chain of laundries, his other locations in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Chicago, and maybe elsewhere. His other laundries were much bigger, most with about 50 employees. The laundry workers were paid about $15 a week.
At this time, laundry work, which was done by hand, was laborious and time-consuming, so not many whites wanted to do such work. In addition, crowded housing conditions made it more difficult for people to do their own laundry. The Chinese, faced with little initial competition, quickly turned it into a widespread industry. In addition, starting a laundry cost very little, making it attractive to the Chinese who had little starting capital. For example, it’s said that in 1900, it cost about $500 to purchase a Chinese laundry.
Commonly, these laundries had three main rooms, including the front room where customers came to drop off and pick up their laundry. A second room would be the residence while the third room would be where all the washing occurred. That stove in the washing room would also be used as their kitchen. Laundry was a laborious job, and the Chinese usually worked six days a week, and sometimes even seven. On Sundays, when they usually didn’t work, they might visit and socialize with their friends and family in other parts of the city, such as eventually in Chinatown.
A few months later, around May 1875, another Chinese laundry, Sum Kee, was opened at 217 Shawmut Avenue. And more would soon open as well. The Boston Globe, March 25, 1879, mentioned that there were about 100 Chinese laundrymen in Boston and a few other Chinese. As the laundries were spread across Boston, the Chinese lived in various areas, as they usually lived in the laundry building. Thus, the neighborhood of Chinatown had not been formed yet.
The Boston Weekly Globe, September 9, 1879, went into more detail estimating the Chinese population in Boston at about 120, and about 100 of them were involved in the laundry business, working in 40 different Chinese laundries. These laundries were broken down into 30 in Boston proper, 4 in Charlestown, 3 in East Boston, and 3 in South Boston. Of those in Boston, 18 were in the South End, 10 in the West End, and 2 in the North End.
By 1913, there were about 3,000 Chinese in the greater Boston area, and about half were laundrymen. The International Chinese Business Directory of the World, compiled by Wong Kin (1913), provided a list of the Chinese laundries in Massachusetts, including about 100 in Boston, and nearly 100 more in other cities and towns in Massachusetts.
Chinese immigrants to Boston initially took on one of the only jobs available to them, being laundrymen, and they prospered through their determination and hard work. In time, they were able to start other types of businesses, from restaurants to grocery stores, but laundries were usually the start.
