Mahala Laundry was in Sandusky for Seventy Five Years

The Mahala Steam Laundry was founded in 1901 by Charles A. Yochem and Lewis Feick. This advertisment from the Sandusky Daily Star of December 7, 1901, suggests that if you took your laundry to be done at the Mahala Laundry, you would have no wash day!

The Mahala Steam Laundry got its name from its location in the Mahala Block on Washington Row between Columbus Avenue  and Wayne Street. The four story building had been constructed for William T. West in 1892, and was given the name of his wife’s middle name.

A massive fire destroyed the Mahala Laundry and several other businesses in 1909. After the fire, the Mahala Laundry relocated to Jackson Street. This advertisement appeared in the 1925 Fram.

It is interesting to note that in 1939, the Mahala Laundry and Beilstein Laundry were both located on the same block of Jackson Street, between the Star Journal newspaper building and the Presbyterian Church, seen below on a Sanborn Map from June of that year.

Both companies would later branch out into dry cleaning. In 1946 Lewis Feick and Alden Feick took over the Mahala Laundry. An article in the February 24, 1961 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that the Mahala Laundry had been purchased by the Peerless Laundry and Dry Cleaning Company of Elyria, Ohio. For seventy-five years, the Mahala Laundry cared for the garments of area residents, and provided jobs for many individuals, many of whom were single females.