Laundry Showroom at Seattle City Light!

[dalangdon]

I've been going through some of the archives of the utility I work for, and when I saw this picture I had to share it with you folks.

We had quite a thriving appliance sales department until the 60's, and an excellent and very affordable repair service until the 90's, when pressure by the private sector to get "the government" out of the appliance business put an end to it.

 

[appnut]

Very nice Frigidaire products!!

 

[polkanut]

Our electric utility, WI Public Service, also sold large and small appliances. They handled Sunbeam & GE products.

 

[dalangdon]

I love that machine on the far left. Very stylish. Was it a washer or a dryer? It looks like a dryer to me.

My grandfather was a lineman for the Omaha Public Power District, and he made sure all his kids had the latest in GE and Hotpoint appliances. I used to love to see the display windows at the OPPD headquarters building, with the various appliances they were highlighting.

City Light had a big home economics department at one time, and the last home ec lady retired only about ten years ago. Even to the end, she would go out to people's homes, and show them how to use their new electric appliances (strictly on request, of course ;-), even though we didn't sell appliances anymore. Wouldn't that be a fun job?

 

[appnut]

Dan, that was a Frigidaire branded dryer. It was made by Hamilton.

 

[lightedcontrols]

You'll get a kick out of this!

When I was a very young child, electricity was fairly new in the hills of West Virginia where I grew up. We finally got a paved road in about 1961 and electricity came in about 1959. The power company at the time offered a water heater, stove, washer and dryer to anyone that got online for free! They offered Frigidaire, Norge, and Kelvinator brands. While the rest of the world was WWWWAAAYYY ahead of us, we loved our ''new'' electricity. For one thing we could have running water IN THE HOUSE! No more outhouses! I remember my Grandfather and Uncle wiring the house that my Grandfather had biult in 1950. The fuse box was on the ceiling of the bedroom, since the main power line came in at that point. It had ONE fuse for all the lights in the house, ONE fuse for all of the outlets in the house, and one fuse for the stove, water heater, and dryer. You learned what could run and when they could run, so as not to burn out the fuse! That house stayed that way until I bought it out of my Grandparents estate and gutted it in 1999. It now has a 200 anp service! The basement had a hanging light on a string that had a plug on it. Wires were strung from that light to the washer, water pump, and my grandmother's Deep Freeze. It's really a wonder the place didn't burn down! When we took the old fuse box out, we discovered that my Grandfather had replaced the fuses with pennies which is why that fuse box always smelled hot. I remember when my Grandmother got a color tv, the entire town turned out to see it.....Ahhhhh childhood memories. Mark (lightedcontrols)

 

[rapunzel]

Is it just me or does that corner window set-up look (almost) identical to the GE 'electric laundry' ad that regularly pops up under the 'picture of the day' section?

 

[bundtboy]

exactly

rapunzel - that's just what I thought.

b

 

[petek]

Nothing sez vintage modern like glass blocks and Sansevaria (mother in laws tongue)

 

[turquoisedude]

Now, why doesn't my laundry room look like that?

Love those pictures! I have a few brochures from power and light companies in upstate New York that would also sell appliances.

Mark - the original wiring in your place sounds like what I grew up with in the once-rural town of Hudson, Quebec. We had basic electricity in the house, but it was that scary knob and tube wiring and a lot of it was exposed. I remember watching mice get fried when they tried to cross the wiring running behind the valance of the living room window and taking bets with my brother about how long the dryer (a 62 GE V-12) would run before we blew the cartridge fuse for the house!!

 

[gansky1]

Very cool picture, Dan. I noticed there's a phone on the shelf in the corner - I'll bet they were in cahoots with the phone company! (and probably not for the same reason they are today!)

 

[washerboy]

fuse box

Reading Mark's post reminded me that my grandparents house.built in the 20's was modified for electricty in '54..OMG it's a wonder we did'nt burn up. My grandmother had on hanging light in the kitchen with the thingy that had two plugs and the light bulb...I remember the coffee pot cord going up the light....

I was watching the Modern Marvels the other night..in the early days of wiring america..they said that 1 in every 2 line men died from electrocution....they said that people back then thought electricty was "magic" and did'nt realize it's dangers.

 

[toggleswitch]

~My grandmother had on hanging light in the kitchen with the thingy that had two plugs and the light bulb...

It took me many decades to realize your comment is why many appiances stated "Use with wall or base receptacle only" Pendant (hanging) lights do not have the gauge of wire needed to carry the types of wattages many appliances draw.

It IS fascinating to see early wiring. Strange to see fused neutrals on old beach cottages lately and stranger even that such issues were not yet corrected.