Laundromat

United States

Self-service laundry facilities in the United States are most commonly called laundromats. The term "laundromat" is the genericized trademark of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, later White Consolidated Industries, and was created by its employee, George Edward Pendray. "Washateria" is an alternate name for laundromat, but is not in common use outside of Texas. The term comes from the first laundromat in the United States, which was known as a washateria and was opened on 18 April 1934 in Fort Worth, Texas, by C.A. Tannahill. Though steam-powered laundry machines were invented in the 19th century, their cost put them out of reach of many. Cantrell and others began renting short-term use of their machines. Most laundromats in the US are fully automated and coin-operated and generally unstaffed, with many operating 24 hours a day. The invention of the coin-operated laundry machine is ascribed to Harry Greenwald of New York who created Greenwald Industries in 1957; the company marketed the devices through the 20th century. While coin laundromats are very common, some laundromats accept credit cards or provide their own card system.