Title

Copper Washing Machine

Creation Date

1928

Description

Large, round copper washing machine, "Daylight" this machine was owned by the Lavoris Mouth Wash Co., family for which Mary worked for many years. MFG. Puffer Hubbard, Minneapolis, MN ca. 1928. Lavoris Mouth Wash company of Minneapolis began in 1902. "Those were always the best to get in on a trade-in," the elderly gentleman said, pointing at the washing machine with the bright copper tub. He had owned a washing machine sales and repair shop in Minneapolis in his younger days and brightened at the sight of the old machine in the ACHS collection. "During Prohibition, I could resell a used machine with a copper tub like that for more than I got for the new one." He grinned. "With just a little work, it was the perfect still for making your own booze. The agitator would even stir the mash." Telling the story of the washing machine and preserving it forever may well have been on the mind of Mary Metro of Columbia Heights when she donated the machine to ACHS. Mary worked for many years for the Lavoris Mouthwash Company in Minneapolis. That company began in 1902 and they originally owned the washing machine. The machine is a "Daylight" model and was also made in Minneapolis by the Puffer Hubbard Company in about 1928. They sold the machine to the Lavoris Company and it remained with them for a number of years. Mary, as an employee of Lavoris, eventually ended up with the machine. Mary kept the washer until 1976. At that time, ACHS had only been in Colonial Hall Museum for a short time and our furniture collection was much smaller, so when Mary asked if the Daylight Washer was something ACHS wanted, the answer was yes. Thousands of people saw that motorized clothes washing machine with its bright copper tub and wringer. Students in later years were amazed at the wringer and needed to have its operation explained as some of them hardly recognized it as a machine for washing clothes!