Imagine that – A Washing Machine Museum

Colorado has a hidden treasure, a unique and fascinating museum, within easy driving distance of the metro Denver. Who’s even heard of a washing machine museum? The museum is fun and so is the tour guide/owner. The Washing Machine Museum was awarded a Guinness Book of Records Certificate certifying it is the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of old and unusual washing machines.

The beauty of the old wooden-tub washers surprised me. When their wooden tubs and metal parts are restored, these machines gleam. The museum is immense; it’s impossible to fully absorb the beauty, ingenuity and history of 1,180 machines, all restored and operational, for Lee Maxwell doesn’t simply restore the machines to a high shine – every machine is operational. Approximately 200 more machines are tumbled into his workshop in an 1889 barn, waiting for the “master’s hand” to fix them.

There are more than 1,500 machines displayed in the Washing Machine Museum in Colorado between Severance and Eaton. Visit www.oldewash.com.

After dismantling the machines and cleaning each part, Maxwell refinishes the wooden tubs that were common in the older washers until they gleam like the fine wood they are – usually oak was used on the early tubs. Many parts are missing or beyond repair when Lee acquires the machines, but the former engineering professor seems to delight in the challenge of finding or creating what he needs to rebuild the discarded wrecks. Seeing the dozens of un-restored discards waiting in the barn/workshop makes one appreciate the effort and time involved in the restoration of each machine. His workroom is a cozy, well-stocked room that includes a stove and welding equipment.

Visitors begin the tour in the first huge building, 12,000 square feet, where the earliest “machines” devised by humans to pound and stir dirt out of clothing are displayed. Maxwell has scores of these early devices, variously called plungers, stompers, dollies, stumpers and dashers. When he demonstrated these simple devices, Maxwell commented that 85 percent of the world’s women still clean laundry with similar devices. After decades of using these beating devices in ponds, creeks and lakes, a simple improvement was made in our country: attaching a beating device, maybe a paddle or a series of dashers, inside a tub which would hold water. The machine was still powered with a woman’s arms.

A one-of-a-kind, for a young groom made this for his bride in 1932.

Beginning with the first Maytag, 66 different Maytag washers are displayed around the outer wall of the first building. The Maytag machines look relatively “normal,” but some wild dual-chore washers raised a chuckle from all of us. Not content with using a woman’s labor to simply wash the clothes, manufacturers began adding additional duties to these simple human-powered machines. Most often, a butter churn was affixed to the device the woman moved so the butter could be churned at the same time. In one model, a hose could be fitted so the pressure from the hose revolved the paddles and the used water could be directed to the yard or garden.

According to the advertising material lying on one pretty model, it could also be used to launder money. When heat was added, some of the early tubs also could be using for canning and preserving foods. Later, when electricity came in use for the power source, one washer model could also be fitted to grind meat at the same time. A few had vacuum cleaner attachments fitted to the frame. One unusual machine was goat-powered and dates from the 1900–1910 era. Near it is a camel saddle, just an interesting antique, like several items in the museum.

The first clothes spinner on a machine was a 1918 model and soon every model had a spinner or wringer attached to. The first glass-fronted enclosed washing machine was a Bendix dating from 1937. Each of the hundreds of washers and related items – chiefly early dishwashers and vacuum cleaners – has a clearly printed sign displayed and a self-guided tour would be possible, but Maxwell is such an entertaining guide that it would be a shame to not enjoy his information and quips.

Maxwell’s first career was teaching electrical engineering at a college in Idaho and then at Colorado State University. When he retired, he looked for a hobby. Since he doesn’t golf, fish or bungee jump, Maxwell said collecting washers was left.

A butter churn was affixed to this dual machine so the butter could be churned at the same time the clothes were washed.

A Rue washer, made in Minnesota and owned by his wife’s aunt since 1920 when she was a young bride, is No. 1 in his collection. His “innocent hobby that became an obsession of consequence” has involved tens of thousands of miles driven and time spent since 1986 by Maxwell and his wife Barbara. From Maine to Vancouver and everywhere in between, the Maxwells sought out rare and unusual washers and related artifacts.

In his quest to know everything possible about his collection, Lee has downloaded 23,000 patents and collected salesmen’s samples, demonstrators, reams of books with directions, advertising materials, posters, early soap boxes, clothespins and other related items. The large online library of patents, information on the companies and associated data complements the physical collection and is an integral part of the collection.

Check out the website, where you can order a book and view some of his prized machines. Directions to the museum are also available there, as well as ordering information for his book, Save Women’s Lives: History of Washing Machines. Tours cost $3 per person or a minimum of $30 and it’s guaranteed to be entertaining. Contact Maxwell for tours, which usually begin at 10 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. From the metro Denver area, allow about an hour to get there; the farm is between Severance and Eaton, just off the I-25 at exit 265. Visit www.oldewash.com.