The
Mother Hubbard Roller Washboard was the hottest selling door-to-door item
in America in the first part of the 20th century. The Fuller Brush
man and the Avon lady came along later and took over where Mother Hubbard
left off.
The Mother Hubbard was a wooden
washboard with a difference. It's patented design featured threaded
maple rollers that rolled in opposite directions. The touch could be
light because the the screw threads did all the work. It carried the
Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
The first roller washboard was made in
Dover by the Hubbard brothers - Will, John, and Tom - who operated their
large sawmill there in the town where they were born. As sales of
the board began to come in, the brothers moved their plant in 1904 to
LaMoille to take advantage of better shipping facilities. The
brothers developed there invention as a side line to their sawmill and
designed and built a special machine to cut the wooden threads.
Capacity of the mill was 500 washboards a day. The smallest size was
made for light washing in the wash bowels that preceded modern plumbing.
It sold for 50 cents; several graduated larger sizes had higher prices.
In 1916 the sawmill was moved to
Mendota and, in addition to the washboards, the plant specialized in
sawing walnut logs and forming them into roughs for gun stocks. The
washboard factory was then located in in a two story brick building in
Shubert Alley at the rear of the Dr. Larsen eye clinic. It employed
four or five men and was operated by Clarence W. Hubbard, a son of Will
Hubbard who died in 1929 but who had actively supervised the making of the
washboards. The Hubbard's also were deeply involved with the
Northwestern Timber Company of which Clarence W. Hubbard was president.
All during the 1920's, the Mother
Hubbard Washboard factory was a busy place. In 1929 they were making
so many boards that resulting wood shavings were becoming a problem.
Farmers were urged to come and haul away all they could use.
In 1932 a boom in business resulted in
the move of the manufacturing end of the washboards to Rock Falls.
The main office remained in Mendota.
In 1933 one of the big mail order
houses placed an order for the Mother Hubbard Washboard and after that
distribution was coast to coast. The boards were not made after 1935
once electric washing machine became popular.
Ken Butler of Mendota acquired the
original sawmill and has now preserved it for posterity in its own
building at the Time Was museum on U.S. 51 south of Mendota.
“Good Morning, madam. This is the Mother Hubbard Roller Washboard, the easy
way to wash that the world has been looking for. Your old board has friction
on a dead, flat surface and It has always been a woman-killer. Ours has a
moving surface producing friction by means of 11 wood rollers with right and
left screw threads. The motion is easy and produces 451 friction movements
at each stroke up or down. Water passes through the threads, carrying the
dirt back into the tub. Easier on hands and the clothes last longer.”
And if these logical
arguments didn’t get your order, the poetry surely would:
So try the board when
next you wash
And you will be the
winner.
And have your clothes
all on the line
In time to get your
dinner.
Then you can sit down
and rest
And watch your toiling
neighbor.
Directions for Use of The Mother Hubbard Roller Washboard
- Place tub high enough for operator to stand erect. Backaches
are unnecessary.
- Place hands flat, palms down. The weight of the arms, hands,
and clothes themselves will do the washing. No more cut, bruised,
skinned knuckles. The rollers do the rubbing.
- Rub soap crosswise on rollers filling the grooves. This saves
soap and creates a lather under the clothes where it is most needed.
- Souse the clothes in the water more often than by the old method as
rinsing removes the dirt loosened by the rollers.
The right and left hand screws or threads bend and open the meshes of
the cloth which is the real operation of washing cloths, thus allowing
water to take away the loosened dirt and cleanse the garments.
There being no back, the water easily takes the dirt right to the bottom
of the tub.
Chipped or wobbly rollers are not a defect - the finest silks can be
washed without injury.
The only board made that can be repaired.
Board should be hung up in a cool, dry place when not in
use.
Taken from the LaMoille Sesquicentennial
Album which was held in 1987 and the "it's like this..." column by John
Barron of the Bureau County Republican Newspaper, unknown date .
