WASHINGTON, April 18, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

FIRST LAUNDROMAT

Profile America — Saturday, April 18th. For urban dwellers, the difficulty — or at least the expense — of doing their laundry began to ease on this date in 1934 when the first public, self-operated laundry in the U.S. opened its doors in Fort Worth, Texas. The first name was "Washateria," eventually replaced with the now familiar "Laundromat." Early facilities were not necessarily coin-operated, and there was always an attendant on duty. The automatic washing machine came along in 1937, and by the late 1940s, the first unattended, 24-hour Laundromats were opened. Now, there are just under 11,000 dry cleaners and coin-operated laundromats across the country.  Employing 39,000 people, they do $3.5 billion of grime-fighting business annually. You can find more facts about America's people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at www.census.gov.

Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 2442
"Washateria": http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1934/april_18_1934_92823.html 
Dry cleaners and laundromats/NAICS 812310: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=BP_2012_00A1&prodType=table 
Revenues/NAICS 812310: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ECN_2012_US_00A1&prodType=table

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau