|
KANAWHA COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: YOUNG, Charles B.
******************************************************************
Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
September 19, 1999
******************************************************************
The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 250
Kanawha County
CHARLES B. YOUNG, a veteran in the laundry business,
has been identified with laundry management and operation
at Charleston for over twenty years, and is manager of the
Superior Laundry, perhaps the last word in laundry con-
struction, facilities and operation in the State of West Vir-
ginia.
Mr. Young was born at Charleston in 1886. His father,
Peter Young, was a well-known business man in Charleston,
where he entered the grocery business in 1867. Charles
B. Young was reared and educated in Charleston, and for
years he and his brothers owned and operated the American
Laundry, a plant they sold in 1920.
Charles B. Young, a member of the firm Young Broth-
ers, utilized his long experience and study and his widely
diversified knowledge of the laundry industry in construct-
ing and planning the new Superior Laundry, at the corner
of Kanawha and Truslow streets. He had personal charge
of all the details of building this plant, which was com-
pleted and opened for business July 12, 1921.
Without exaggeration this is one of the finest and most
modern laundries in the United States, and represents the
ultimate ideal of laundry practice and operation. The build-
ing is of brick, of good architectural style, and affords floor
space of 14,000 square feet under one roof. A feature de-
serving of special commendation is the lighting and venti-
lation, there being 3,500 square feet of glass in the one
room. All the flooring is concrete, and the interior finish
is plain and sanitary, easily cleaned, and kept constantly
and spotlessly clean. The atmosphere of the place is
wholesome, an ideal place for those who spend their work-
ing days there. The motto of the laundry is "Modern to
the Minute," and Mr. Young is to be congratulated upon
realizing in the construction and operating details this
ideal. A few months after the plant was put in operation
Mr. Young added $3,000 worth of the latest machinery. As
to the capacity of the laundry its rating is 100 shirts per
hour. All the washing, drying, ironing and other machines
are of the latest models. One of the most noteworthy is a
washer of solid brass for perfect sterilization. All the ma-
chines are electrically controlled, the motor driven appara-
tus being so constructed as to afford individual control to
each machine, while all may be controlled together from
one switchboard. The engine and boiler rooms are perfect
in their equipment for the steam heating of water.
|
