Excelsior Laundry

Excelsior Laundry in 1924. courtesy BPL Archives

The Excelsior Steam Laundry was a prominent clothes and linen cleaning service in downtown Birmingham from the 1880s to at least the 1920s.

The business was founded in J. H. Lee around 1885 in the Wright's Building at 308 19th Street North. During the 1886 Mardi Gras parade, the Excelsior Steam Laundry entered a float parodying another float by the Birmingham Steam Laundry which featured a large reclining figure "fanning away opposition."

The laundry was purchased that same year by George Blinn, Sr, who, along with his son, George Jr moved it to leased space at 1805 2nd Avenue North in 1891. In 1902 they acquired ownership of that building and adjoining property and erected a new Excelsior Laundry Building at 1805-7 2nd Avenue.

In 1905 George Blinn, Jr invited his brother-in-law, James Donnelly, a former manager at Proctor & Gamble who had retired at age 43, to come to Birmingham and join him in the laundry and other business enterprises.

The Excelsior Laundry Building was demolished prior to construction of the New Ideal Building in 1942.

References

• The Shoppers' Guide of Greater Birmingham, The Trade Center of Alabama (1909) Birmingham: Davis Advertising & Sales Co.
• Cruikshank, George H. (1920) History of Birmingham and Its Environs: A Narrative Account of Their Historical Progress, Their People, and Their Principal Interests 2 volumes. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
• Dabney, Richard (2006) Birmingham's Highland Park. Images of America Series. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Press. ISBN 9780738543437