Fire took heavy toll on Monessen landmark business

And the blaze that sparked the alarm was the focus of a note from a reader in Monessen who asked:

“Do you remember the fire that destroyed the Monessen Laundry & Cleaning Company? I think it was in the late 1960s or early 1970s.”

According to a story in The Valley Independent on Jan. 5, 1970, the landmark business at Second Street and Donner Avenue was destroyed by the fie.

William Merritt, president of the corporation, told the newspaper that the building was “a total loss” but he could not estimate how much the damage would run.

Municipal Fire Chief Roy McShaffrey said the entire building was ablaze when they arrived and it took almost an hour to get the fire under control. Firefighters remained on the scene until about 4:30 a.m. Monday morning.

About 50 firefighters from both Monessen companies responded to the alarm and six trucks were used. Nearly a dozen firefighters from Rostraver Central and Webster companies assisted and the companies acted as standby.

McShaffrey said it could not be determined how or where the blaze started as the entire building was in flames when firefighters arrived.

According to Merritt, some maintenance work was being done in the building on Sunday morning but he emphasized that nothing was amiss when he left around noon and when one of his workers left shortly after.

McShaffrey said there was some damage to an apartment and bar next door to the laundry. He did not know the name of the owner of that building but said no one was in the building at the time of the fire.

Merritt told The Valley Independent he could not estimate the cost of garments in the cleaning plant, but he said it would not be as bad as it would have been if the fire had occurred during the week when the bulk of the cleaning is done. Because of the weekend, he said, most of the garments had been picked up by customers. There were garments brought into the plant for cleaning but Merritt said most people “wait until the beginning of the week” to bring in their cleaning.

He also was not able at that time to estimate how much damage there was to the delivery trucks parked in the basement of the building because they were covered with debris.

The newspaper reported that 23 persons were employed at the cleaning establishment located in a one-story 100-by-100-foot brick building.

The business had been located there since 1909, the newspaper said. Merritt had been operating it for the past five or six years.

Monessen Laundry and Cleaning Company garnered considerable media coverage over the years and was a major advertiser in the first Industrial Edition (Illustrated) of The Daily Independent on Friday, Jan. 8, 1915. That special section was a forerunner of what eventually became known as the Progress edition and is now featured as the annual Pride publication of The Valley Independent. As an introduction to the informative edition, The Daily Independent proclaimed:

“More than eight-thousand people find employment in the different mills, factories, workshops, stores, banks and other institutions within the corporate limits of the Borough of Monessen. We are constantly enlarging, broadening out and moving forward and are continually sending out calls for more workmen. This is a productive field for the laborer, mechanic and professional man because of its diversified industries. Capital and labor meet on common grounds, the mill man and the merchant work hand in hand for a greater and better day. The official Census Department count of 1910 gave us a population of 11,775, the census of 1914 gave us over 18,000 souls. We are still growing. At this rate of increase where will be in 1920?”

Monessen Laundry & Cleaning was listed as one of the top employers in Monessen at that time with 56 persons on its monthly payroll of $2,500. Others acknowledged by the Board of Trade as outstanding economic resources were:

The half-page ad also called attention to then-modern technology at the laundry in the form of “The only machine that molds a collar perfectly. Gives your collars that perfect fit and finish demanded by good dressers. The only machine that gives ample tie slide space. Have your collars molded on this machine.”

Another ad appeared in The Daily Independent on April 1, 1924, and offered a drawing of an obviously satisfied female customer displaying a dress. It carried this caption: “No! It Isn’t New. The Monessen Laundry & Cleaning Company Has Cleaned It For Me. I can’t wait until Mrs. Rich’s tea tomorrow afternoon. All my friends will think I have a new gown. The silk is just as lustrous as it was when I bought it and it only cost me a trifle to have it cleaned.”

The company also emphasized that “Months of service, style and good appearance are what we put into last year’s garments when you bring them here.” Additional information was available by calling 223.

The Daily Independent called attention to Monessen Laundry and Cleaning Company’s progress in a Page One story on Monday, Sept. 8, 1930, under this headline: Monessen Laundry Spends Thousands In Modern Equipment.

The newspaper reported that the company “recently installed in its plant here the latest, most modern and highly scientific mechanical appliances known to the laundry industry for the purpose of expanding the business and specializing in domestic washing.” It continued:

“A visit through this plant gives an idea of the successful operating and application of modern, scientific principles which do away with old-time methods that mean hard labor and injury to the clothes. This installation has been done at an added expense of many thousands of dollars, and the laundry is now conducting an extensive campaign for the purpose of selling to the people of this vicinity a service unexcelled by any modern laundry in the country.