6
Lowell was experiencing
similar changes that affected other urban centers in the last few decades
of the nineteenth century. "Rising standards of cleanliness, concentrations
of potential customers, the creation of urban
water systems," polluted
industrial air, and crowded living spaces rendered "traditional clothes
washing methods less workable" and made the commercial laundry popular.25
Contrary to popular belief, the laundry
trade in the late
nineteenth century and early twentieth century was not an open economic
niche for Chinese immigrants. The Lowell City Directory listed the
city's first commercial laundry in 1874. As Table 1 shows, between 1880
and 1970, both Chinese and non-
Chinese laundries
existed in Lowell. In 1902,
the Massachusetts
legislature debated an anti-
Chinese laundry bill.
The bill stated, "It shall
be unlawful for any
person to do public laun-
dry work by way of
trade or for gain in any room, or in any part thereof, which is used by
such person or by any other person for pur-
poses of cooking,
eating or sleeping."26 The |
bill was strongly
supported by Frank Stearns,
a Lowell representative.
27 Frank Stearns also happened to own Scripture's Laundry in Lowell.28
If passed, the bill would have wiped out all of Lowell's Chinese laundries.
This is because according to the census manuscript
of 1900 all of the
city's Chinese lived at addresses which were listed as business addresses
in the City Directory. Cooking, eat-
ing or sleeping was
certainly taking place at all the Chinese laundries. Fortunately for the
Chinese, however, the bill was voted down in the House.29
Several possible reasons explain why the Chinese elected the laundry trade
to sustain their existence in Lowell. First, in the late nineteenth century,
the laundry trade was in
its infancy and thus
still fairly open for
Chinese to compete
in. Second, prejudice against the Chinese as clearly reflected in
the editorial pages
of Lowell's newspapers -
had walled the Chinese
outside the general
labor market even
before they arrived. Third, starting laundry business required only a small |
Table 1. Chinese and Non Chinese Laundries in Lowell, 1870 1970
|
Year
|
Chinese
laundry
|
Non Chinese
laundry
|
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
|
0
3
20
37
31
31
18
19
12
7
2
|
0
4
12
16
17
15
15
13
10*
10*
7
|
*The Burbank Laundry is counted as non Chinese.
Source: Lowell City Directory, 1870 1970.
Shehong
Chen
|
