Main Post in San Francisco City and County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)

Laundresses' Row

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, July 2, 2021

1. Laundresses' Row Marker

Inscription.

Laundresses' Row. . , "The enlisted stratum included the noncommissioned officers [sergeants] and their red-armed wives who were the post’s laundresses, and the broods of unkempt urchins who raced round the big black laundry kettles that bubbled over woodfires in the backyards of Suds Row shanties." , Oliver Knight, Life and Manners in the Frontier Army, 1978, Following British Army practice, the U.S. Army made provision for laundresses in 1802. The Army allowed them space for quarters, rations for food, straw for bedding and medical care. Four laundresses were allowed for each hundred men. Later this was expanded to one laundress for every 19½ men. The captain of each company appointed them. Many laundresses were Irish immigrants. Soldiers paid them through deductions from their pay while officers paid the laundresses directly. An industrious laundress could make several times the pay of a thirteen-dollars-a-month private. Some also worked as tailors, part-time cooks or midwives. Many married non-commissioned officers (sergeants) or soldiers and raised children on the post despite an Army regulation forbidding married men, or men with children, from enlisting., In 1878, the Army banned the enrollment of laundresses with the provision that those already at work could remain. Rations stopped being issued to laundresses in 1883. The laundress' wooden cabins at the Presidio were demolished in the mid-1890s for the construction of the Montgomery Street barracks. Not much is known about the individual histories of these working women., There was a second cluster of laundresses' quarters near Fort Point and a third near what are now the stables. A post-shaped, rose-colored granite grave marker in today's pet cemetery is inscribed:, "+ In Memory of Margaret O’Brien a native of county Donegal, Ireland, died February 25, 1889, aged 52 years. May her soul rest in peace, amen.", This tombstone predates the pet cemetery begun in 1952 and probably marks the grave of an otherwise unrecorded Presidio laundress., Captions , Left: Margaret O'Brien's grave marker. , Top right: In spring of 1862, the Army began building board-and-batten quarters each of which housed 4 laundresses. Each unit had two rooms and a fireplace. Vivian Young , Bottom right: Map of the post in 1871 with Laundresses' Row highlighted. U.S. Army Military History Institute

"The enlisted stratum included the noncommissioned officers [sergeants] and their red-armed wives who were the post’s laundresses, and the broods of unkempt urchins who raced round the big black laundry kettles that bubbled over woodfires in the backyards of Suds Row shanties." — Oliver Knight, Life and Manners in the Frontier Army, 1978

Following British Army practice, the U.S. Army made provision for laundresses in 1802. The Army allowed them space for quarters, rations for food, straw for bedding and medical care. Four laundresses were allowed for each hundred men. Later this was expanded to one laundress for every 19½ men. The captain of each company appointed them. Many laundresses were Irish immigrants. Soldiers paid them through deductions from their pay while officers paid the laundresses directly. An industrious laundress could make several times the pay of a thirteen-dollars-a-month private. Some also worked as tailors, part-time cooks or midwives. Many married non-commissioned officers (sergeants) or soldiers and raised children on the post despite an Army regulation forbidding married men, or men with children, from enlisting.

In 1878, the Army banned the enrollment of laundresses with the provision that those already at work could remain. Rations stopped being issued to laundresses

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in 1883. The laundress' wooden cabins at the Presidio were demolished in the mid-1890s for the construction of the Montgomery Street barracks. Not much is known about the individual histories of these working women.

There was a second cluster of laundresses' quarters near Fort Point and a third near what are now the stables. A post-shaped, rose-colored granite grave marker in today's pet cemetery is inscribed:

"+ In Memory of Margaret O’Brien a native of county Donegal, Ireland, died February 25, 1889, aged 52 years. May her soul rest in peace, amen."

This tombstone predates the pet cemetery begun in 1952 and probably marks the grave of an otherwise unrecorded Presidio laundress.

Captions
Left: Margaret O'Brien's grave marker.
Top right: In spring of 1862, the Army began building board-and-batten quarters each of which housed 4 laundresses. Each unit had two rooms and a fireplace. Vivian Young
Bottom right: Map of the post in 1871 with Laundresses' Row highlighted. U.S. Army Military History Institute

Erected by National Park Service and The Presidio Trust.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Forts and Castles • Industry & Commerce • Women.

Location.

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37° 48.01′ N, 122° 27.614′ W. Marker is in San Francisco, California, in San Francisco City and County. It is in Main Post. It can be reached from Taylor Road north of Sheridan Avenue, on the right when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 7000 Taylor Road, San Francisco CA 94129, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is on California’s Coast Ranges.

It is also on the American Pacific Coast.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Ring of Fire,

in the Pacific Rim,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain

and also Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Sutler's Quarters (here, next to this marker); Sergeants' Row (within shouting distance of this marker); Montgomery Street Barracks (within shouting distance of this marker); Infantry Row (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Bicentennial Tree (about 500 feet away); Post Chapel (about 500 feet away); Ammunition Magazine (about 600 feet away); Centennial Tree (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in San Francisco.

Also see . . . The Army Laundress. National Park Service website entry (Submitted on April 6, 2025, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.)

Credits. This page was last revised on April 6, 2025. It was originally submitted on July 6, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 478 times since then and 16 times this year. Photo 1. submitted on July 6, 2021, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.