Tom Anderson
Tom Anderson
Tom Anderson has laundered the clothes of Milwaukee’s inner city residents for 70 years. At the age of 89, and struggling with cancer, Anderson is still working his regular routes. “Some customers I’ve had for 50 years,” he told me.
Tell me about your background. You are a long time Milwaukee native, I understand.
I was born in Iron Mountain, Michigan, but I’ve lived in Milwaukee since I was seven years old. My family resided in various homes throughout the inner city. My dad passed away when I was a child, and my mother raised us four children. I went to Boys Tech High School (now Bradley Tech) and graduated in 1953. I enjoyed my time there.
How did you get into the dry cleaning and laundry business?
When my family lived on Sixth and Clark, there was a laundry and dry cleaners in the building close to our home. It was called Eureka Laundry. When I was 19, the Eureka Laundry owner told me he had a route open and would I be interested in the job. So right after high school, I started that job, which consisted of delivering and picking up laundry to different customers in the neighborhoods. I stayed with Eureka Laundry for a year and a half. Then, I heard there was a route open at Vogue Cleaners on 12th and Vliet. I got that job, and I very much liked working that route. After six years, I bought my own truck, paid my own expenses and worked on commission for Vogue Cleaners. I developed a good customer base, and I did real well. When I was 27, I bought a dry cleaners and laundromat that was for sale on Teutonia and Hampton, Lloyd’s Dry Cleaners & Laundromat. I bought Lloyd’s and kept the name.
And you still own and operate Lloyd’s Cleaners, right?
I’ve owned Lloyd’s for 43 years. In fact, some customers call me Mr. Lloyd, and I don’t correct them. (laughing) I still deliver and pick up laundry in my van. I’ve now been in the drycleaning business for 70 years. Six days a week from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. I haven’t missed a day of work for 25 years. I’ve probably gone through 15 vans in that time.
I understand your son, Mike Anderson, owns another drycleaners, right?
Yes, Mike owns Village Valet on 32nd and North. He’s been there for 25 years. I am his partner.
What area of the inner city do your laundry delivery services cover?
I service the inner city, and I still do the route work myself. My route goes from 60th Street on the west side to Holton Street on the east side. From Wisconsin Avenue on the south side all the way up to Good Hope on the north side.
That whole area is huge, in fact, the entire inner city.
That’s true, but I drive the route in sections, day by day.
When you started out on your route many years ago, did you service ethnically mixed residents?
Oh, yes, all different kinds of people, Italians, Germans, Jews, African Americans. But currently, I service neighborhoods that are 95 percent African American. Ninety-five percent of my business comes from African Americans, and I consider many of them good friends. I’ll tell you what really helped me grow my business. On several occasions, I’d deliver clothes to my customers, and they wouldn’t have enough money to pay me because they didn’t get paid until the first of the month. I’d say. “That’s OK,” and I’d go back on the first of the month and get paid. As a result, I developed a beautiful relationship with everyone I dealt with because I treated my clients like they were friends of mine. Some customers I’ve had for 50 years.
That is such a wonderful business ethic because it is based on trust. For many, many years, that is how we dealt with one another in this country, the concept of lending through trust. But now that practice has mostly gone away.
Yes, it certainly has.
What did that feel like, experiencing all that ethnic change in the central city through the years? You must be one of the few Milwaukee residents who have experienced that drastic change.
The inner city area has gotten rougher, and I’ve been robbed a few times but not hurt. And there are a lot of speeding drivers, in fact, reckless driving. On the corner of Teutonia and Hampton where my Lloyd’s Cleaners is located, I’ve probably seen one accident a week, usually caused by somebody running a red light.
Tom, if you don’t want to discuss this, I understand, but your nephew told me you have cancer.
Yes, I do. I injured my hip last year, and it did not get better. Then I came down with prostate cancer, and the cancer traveled to my right hip. The doctors said my cancer is incurable, but with modern medicine, they can keep me alive for quite a few years. Right now, life is good. I still enjoy working every day.
What about your own family?
I have eight children, six sons and two daughters, all grown up. Wonderful family. I am a lucky guy in so many ways.
