Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 226, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 8, 1939 Page: 9 of 20
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f* LAUNDRY
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SECTION II
LAUNDRY
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sweetwater, texas, sunday, JANUARY 8, j 939
NUMBER 226
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Sweetwater Laundry Doors To Formally Open On Monday
C* R. Simmons Has Successful
Career As Laundry Executive
i) —
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irm"
C. R. Simmons, who just re-
cently moved his Sweetwater
Laundry into one of the most
modern plants in the state as
the climax of a successful career
of thirty-two years in the laun-
dry business, was born in Round
Rock, Williamson county, Tex-
as.
His father was D. P. Simmons
and his mother whose maiden
name was Angeline Harkey, was
a native of San Saba, Texas.
C. R. Simmons was the eldest
of six children and attended the
various schools and grew up in
the locality in which he was
born, living most of the time in
Georgetown.
In 1902, he married Miss Nar-
cissus Smith and the Simmons
now are rounding out thirty-
seven years of married life. Mrs.
Simmons has been a constant,
source of inspiration to her hus-
band and through her coopera-
tion has watched each year add
a rung to their mutual ladder of
success.
The Simmons have four child-
ren, two daughters, Mrs. C. G.
Sewell, Phoenix, Arizona and
Mrs. J. W. Herndon, Jr., Sweet-
water. Mr. Herndon being the
superintendent of the Sweetwat-
er laundry. There are two
boys, Jack Simmons, who man-
ages the Abilene laundry for the
estate of Mr. Simmons' former
partner and brother-in-law, G. W.
Clark. The other son is Riley
Simmons, graduate of Newman
high school in 1937, where he
made an outstanding record in
football and was captain of the
Mustangs in his graduation year.
Last summer, young Riley Sim-
mons made a tour of Europe in
company with one of his friends.
This year he has entered Baylor
university where he will major
in chemistry and business ad-
ministration, preparing himself
for the time when he will take
over the business enterprises of
his father.
Not only has G. R. Simmons
made an outstanding success in
his own line of endeavor, but
he has distinguished himself as
a citizen as well. He is a mem-
ber of the First Baptist church
and has been a member of its
board of deacons a number of
years and is church treasurer at
the present time. He has been
a member of the Knights of
Pythias fraternity for 25 years.
In 1935 greater recognition
came from the citizenship, of
Sweetwater by awarding to Mr.
Simmons the cup for being
Sweetwater's outstanding citizen
of that year. This cup is pre-
sented by the Lions club each
year on the recommendation of
a committee made up of repre-
sentatives of the various civic
organizations of the city.
Simmons has served his city
as a member of the city commis-
sion for the past eight years, two
years of that time as mayor. He
is just, completing a year as pre-
sident of the Sweetwater club,
pioneer civic organization of the
city.
In addition to his laundry in-
terests, Mr. Simmons has in-
vested heavily in real estate in
Sweetwater and owns some of
the better ] ieces of business
property thereby demonstrating
his faith in the community. The
Simmons live in a handsome two-
story brick dwelling built about
ten years ago.
Mr. Simmons has made himself
a part of the community in
which lie cast his lot and has
watched and helped it grow from
a small West Texas town to be
one of the important cities of
this area.
Desert Crops
May Be Grown
Within 3 Years
Seven Plants Selected
By Arizona University
For Dry Farming Use
PHOENIX, Ariz. — (UP) —
An attempt is to be made- to
conquer the arid deserts of the
West, long a symbol of waste,
by making them yield products
necessary for human welfare.
As a result, Dr. J. J. Thorn-
her, professor of botany at the
University of Arizona, will
know in three years if it is pos-
sible to bring the desert under
control and make it a boon to
humanity. Dr. Thornber said
the university will begin next
spring to cultivate desert plants
with the object of developing
them to a point where they can
be raised in commercial quanti-
j ties for their products—which
include medicines, rubber and
fiber.
| "I feel quite sure the desert
| is going to be of economic value
i to man instead of waste", Dr.
I Thornber said, "but it will take
| at least three years before we
know how successful the experi-
ments will be."
Rubber Plant Prominent
The scientist said that if it is
found that plants can be grown
commercially, the acreage need-
ed for the Guaylc- plant alone
will be "tremendous". The
Guayle plant produces rubber.
"The experimentation will be
done on the university farm at
OUR CONGRATULATIONS
TO C. R. SIMMONS
ON THE
COMPLETION OF HIS NEW
LAUNDRY PLANT
We are indeed happy at this time to join in ex-
tending our best wishes and congratulations to
our friend, Mr. C. R. Simmons, on the comple-
tion of his new laundry plant which'will give to
Sweetwater laundering facilities second to none
in the state. It is enterprise like this which builds
a city and the community which surrounds it.
H"
LEVY'S
LEADING MERCHANTS FOR 30 YEARS
Invests In Future
s
/ m
Firm Contributes
Much To Payroll
Of Community
J. W. Herndon, Jr. Is
Plant Superintendent
Of Laundry Here
The Sweetwater laundry is
one of the leading Industries of
Sweetwater and contributes a
very substantial amount to the
payrolls of the community.
Although Mr. Simmons de-
votes much of his time to the
persona] supervision of the
plant, the plant operations are
under the watchful eye of J. W.
Herndon, Jr., plant superintend-
ent and son-in-law of Mr. Sim-
mons. Fifteen women and seven
men make up. the rest of the
personnel of the plant.
Few people realize the many
operations necessary to turn out
work in a modern laundry. It
therefore may not be amiss to
trace the progress of a man's
shirt for instance, from the time
it is taken out of the bundle of
soiled clothes and is deliv-
ered back to the customer again
in a clean, crisp, factory-like
manner.
The shirt is first taken from j
the bundle and is marked for j
identification. And by the way
identification or the method used I
to keep track of the bundle so j
that the right clothes go back j
to the right customer, repre- !
sents about thirty percent of ;
the cost of production.
After being marked the shirt I
goes to the proper washer. The
washer used for shirts is much
smaller than that used for large
flat work, etc. From the washer,
the shirt goes to the starcher,
then to the starch extractor
from where it is sent to the
shirt finishing unit.
The shirt unit is a series of
presses used for various finish- busiest corner
ing operations. First the collars . The m* T ' 1 n
and cuffs are ironed or pressed ! a frontage of ■ "'> ft el
as the laundry operators say. I street ami "v
The next operation is the yoke ! feet on Kir.-t sm-.-i.
or bosom, then the body of the
shirt and then the sleeves. The
band of the collar is then form-
ed and the shirt finally is
touched up by hand ironing af-
ter which it is folded and band-
ed for the sorter, then checked
again and wrapped ready for de-
livery.
General Public Is Invited
To Inspect Modern Plant
Partnership In Sweelwater Company
% as Formed In Merkel >2 Years Ajjo
Culminating with the moving 'hey purchased the Sweetwater
, , . ! laundrv on January 1. 1910 from
into a new modern laundry ... ,■ , ... i
: simon () Keefe and loin Hugh-1 muraty.
plant, a story of the Sweetwat- ,
Tote' now morning the floors
formally ••pen on tin new and
5 • iter Swi etwaler Laundry re-
• "in b, completed by G. ft. Sim-
mon.-, pioneer laundryman of
\\i i. Ti'.xa and ojii of the lead-
ing businessmen «.f this com-
be laundrv then was located |
Laundry brings into the pic- jn ;t building near the pr<
('. I!. Simmons lias <!<■ mon-
stratrd his faith in Sued-
water by his investment in a
modern, elaborately e<|iiip-
ped laundry plant.
Building Is Of
L-'
Modern Design:
\\ el] Equipped
Wafer Softener, Washers,
Presses Are All Of The
Latest In Manufacture
ture an account of two men who compress
started out as partners in the
laundry busine:- some thirty-
two years ago.
It was in 11)07 that C. It. Sim-
mon- and his brother-in-law, C.
W. Clark, purchased the Mer-
kel Steam Laundry. Merkel at
that time was considered one of
the leading towns in west Texas
and the Merkel Steam Laundry
enjoyed a wide patronage.
Before starting in the laundry
business at Merkel, however,
Simmons had had several years
experience as a railroad shop
mechanic with the IGN and San- 1 r and >
ent.
the I
plant and u. • d
city as a war<'hotiM\ The ivv. j
owners built a new brick plant,
on Lo u-l tr el. which .'.a
occupied until X.- ember of j
this year, when the pre. "til
modern building was compi'-i- j
ed.
Clark operated the Sweetwat-J
er laundry until 1022 while in ;
h" meantime Simmon- was'
tnt
operating the laundry at Cole-
man, Texas. Then in that yeas.',
Simmons sold his laundry in
Coleman and came to Sweetwat-
ught out his partner's
The Sweetwater
ed into its new
November 2! t, of
structure of in ode r
it is numbered an
est plan's of i! • vi
tire aa'e.
it occupies a
on the corner of F
ar. '.nc block off
bitsie.-1 ci
dry niov-
ildlng on
; year. A
ic design
the fin-
er,-
•y 100 feet
and Ced-
of the
Co
for
km;
i ta Fe railroads both in Pales-
tine. Texas, and San Bernar-
i dino. California.
The Merkel laundry enter-
i prise prospered but. was burn-
ed i.1 a disastrous fire in 1000
laud instead of rebuilding the
1 plant in Merkel the partner, il ■
i cided to purchase a laundry in
. the more prosperous town o!
( Alexia. Here they established
I the Alexia S cam laundry.
Later seeing a greater oppor-
tunity in Coleman.. the Mexia
| plant was moved to thai city
combined with another
t, the Coleman Steam laun-
which they had purchased.
■ operated this plant as part-
until 1014 when Mr. Sim-
s purchased Clark's interest,
in turn moved to Bartlett,
Later CI. rr. moved that
md operated
he sold out
and again entered in partner-
ship with Simmons and together
linterest m the t
i dry. In 1021 (. s
| lene and boughs
\ laundry, later I
j lene Steam late
! lidated the two
i name of Abilene
I died two years ago b
I still owned by the Clar
and is operated by .la
nons, son of ( .
iring the
been erigag
etwater 1-aun-
went to Abi-|
vidge's Steam I
ing" the Abi-i
l.
All during the next week the
general ) ubiie is extended a
cordial imitation to visit this
modi rn laundry institution and
• •e fir h nil all of the modern
pr.•• s. e;; thai are used to give
-■. fi<■ i■ i iaundry service. si ''.
'1': tnodtti ulant located at
i • >••■!' of Cedar and First
i very accessible with
, pi parking facilities, and all
will find it very much worth
while v. visit, the laundry.
'■It. v. 11 personally give me a
great of pleasure." said Mr.
Simmons to a Reporter repre-
sentative, "to have every man,
v. oman. and child go through the
laundry at this time. It has giv-
en me a lot of satisfaction to
•vide the people of this com-
. iiijtv with a laundry that is in
ns with the latest develop-
i in laundering science."
'K
I )
bimmons
ears that
in the In
l)
and
•plain
'drv
They
nets
moil;
I who
Ul
in ess, C. K.
a policy of
nising empio>
in other lot;
"tries in Iii
•k, Lamp;
lain
Hid
t
partners
's in Sweater, j jaUndry to Brady t
ndrv build.ng has i jt until 101(! when
are
the in
water Ian
Coleman.
During
111111
tab!
in
inter1
ie Sw
this per
to keei.
equip);
cays in
p in ti
La umlt
ite Lau
g clothe - for the pub-
. ug <i. The methods
niei.it are entirely dif-
n those of thirty,
even ten years ago.
ago, Simmons
•f the first steam
to the state of
( man laundry,
has endeavor-
-■ modern as
methods. As
f this he has
i a member-
ni Institute
and the Texas
Owners' assoCUi-
Tucson, although work on the
milkweed plant, also a rubber
producer, may have to be car-
ried to Yuma where it is not so
cold in the winter."
A sample box of a number of
plants was sent to Secretary
Henry A. Wallace in Washing-
ton and the government was in-
terested enough to send two in-
vestigators to look into the pos-
sibilities of establishing a labora-
tory for furthc-r experiments. '
The government report has not
yet been made available.
Dr. Thornber said the Desert
Laboratory of the Carnegie In-
stitute at Tucson already was
classifying plants to determine
if native Mexican growths can
be brought across the border for
commercial cultivation.
Seven Species Selected
First work of the experiment
will consist of growing seven
plants, several of which are be-
lieved to have medicinal proper-
ties.
The Canaigre plant, which has
a high percentage of tannin, is
used in the tanning of fine lea-
ther although it is too expensive
for cheaper leathers.
The Yucca plant, with its
fibrous leaves, may prove to lie
very valuable if the fiber quali-
ty stands up under the intense
cultivation, Dr. Thornber said
The third plant to be cult h at-
ed is the Guayle, which is
abundant in southern Arizona.
"We intend to plant both
seeds and cuttings from these
plants and experiment on their
cultivation," he said. "They arc
becoming increasingly import-
ant as a possible source nf a
rubber supply for this country.
When first discovered, the plant
contained only about 4 or 5 per
cent rubber in its stalk, but
now after cultivation and care,
plants can be produced that con-
tain 23 to 25 per cent rubber.
Indian Wheat Studied
"One of our important jobs
will be to determine if Indian
wheat, whose seed is identical
insofar as medicinal properties
are concerned to Psillium, can
be grown in commercial, quanti-
ties. We already know how to
gather it mechanically In a clean
condition and we have been as-
The building is one story in i
height and is a semi-fire proof
brick structure with concrete
floors and an exterior finished in ;
white stucco and pre "in : a very
immaculate appearance from the !
street. The interior is fl< ded
with sunlight f«Min .-!<■•-J a h
which make tin most of the wall
area. Each window has a ti m-
som over it which provides am-
ple ventilation at all time-. In
addition a long =kylight. pro-
vides additional light over the
assembly line of washers.
The main building devoted
to the general offices, the wish-
ers and other units of the fin-
ishing equipment. The l.oiler-
room occupies a wing off ihe
main building but directly con-
nected with i; by a large fire
door. Since the m; in building
has been constructed another
modern type building has been
added which occupies a siie
north of the boilerroom and
facing 2o feet on Ceelar street.
This has been rented by a clean-
er.
The boiler r.• >m is • -o; ; .aed
with two boilers; one of 45 horse-
power and the other of Sa horse-
power capacity. Th -e furnish
hot water and steam for the
various washing and finishing
operations.
In this room is also in-tailed
the water softener which takes
the city water antl reduces it to
zero grains of hardness or the |
equivalent of rain wati r. This
water softener has a capacity of
30.000 gallons daily. About 25,000 i
gallons daily are used in the
normal operations of the plan;.
o ——
It is believed that fish loach- j
ed the Rocky Mountain region j
from the Pacific Ocean by;
swimming up the Columbia riv-
er, then up its tributary, Pacific ,
CSrcek. the headwaters of]
which mingle with Atlantic
Creek, on Two-Ocean Pass, in
Wyoming. Once over the pass,
the fish came down Atlantic
Creek into Yellowstone river.
sured that tons of the seed could
be used if a steady source is
found."
Another spccies of milkweed,
Dr. Thornber said, has medici-
nal qualities which the Indians j
say counteracts poison snake
and insect, bites. One company is
now experimenting to deter- i
mine what chemical in the plant
acts upon snake venom.
Another plant produces the
Jojobe, similar to the coffee
bean. It can be used for making
perfume. I
ar
and Greater
SWEET W A T I: R
W
THE COMPLETION of the New
t-
ni-
reetwater Laundry plant, Sw
water now boasts of a laundry
stitution that is second to. none in the entire
state. In this substantial manner Mr. ('. It.
Simmons has demonstrated his faith in I •
community and his desire to see Sweetwat-
er grow and prosper. We. of Cox. are happy
to congratulate Mr. Simmons on his la' st
endeavor to help Sweetwater become a bet-
ter and greater city. FORTY-THREE years
ago Cox decided Sweetwater was a good
place to grow and prosper and our
in its future lias continued a!! liii-' .. .
vears.
S
QUALITY JEWELRY SINCE l-.'
. .J
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 226, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 8, 1939, newspaper, January 8, 1939; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth282009/m1/9/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.