"I’d seen this 1900 image of sheets, shirts, and undergarments hanging between rows of New York tenements before. But I never noticed the caption, 'A Monday’s Washing.' Was Monday the city’s official laundry day? Apparently it was a traditional day to do the hard work of washing clothes, as this excerpt from Tyler Anbinder’s book about the city’s notorious 19th century slum, Five Points, explains. 'Hard wash-days—typically Mondays—provided some of the most unpleasant memories for tenement housewives such as those in Five Points,' wrote Anbinder. 'They first made numerous trips up and down the stairs to haul water up from the yard. Then they heated the water on the stove and set to work scrubbing.. ..."
Ephemeral New York
A Fine Line: The Art of the Clothesline
W - Laundry
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