Michigan Arts & Culture

Detroit was home to nation's first automated car wash

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published August 17, 2016 at 5:18 PM EDT

A visit to the Automobile Laundry in 1913 would have run you $1.50, Stone told us. That's equivalent to $36.46 today.

So here you are, the first on your block to buy Henry Ford's Model T.

But roads are often dirt-covered, getting your newfangled automobile all grubby. And maybe you don't feel like hauling out buckets of water to wash it.

If you lived in Detroit in 1914, you had a solution: take your care to the Automobile Laundry, the very first automated car wash in the country.

Joel Stone is chief curator at the Detroit Historical Society. He joined us today on Stateside to talk a bit about how two visionary Detroiters launched the automated car wash business in America.

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Joel Stone is chief curator at the Detroit Historical Society.(Subscribe to the Stateside podcast oniTunes,Google Play, or with thisRSS link)