From the Fading Ads of NYC (History Press, 2011) © Frank H. Jump
Reckitt’s Blue
Remembering Reckitt’s Blue – 622 Washington Avenue – Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
From the book Fading Ads of NYC (History Press, 2011) © Frank H. Jump
Other Reckitt’s Blue posts on FAB.
Reckitt’s Blue In Hiding – 622 Washington Avenue – Brooklyn
Prospect Heights – © Frank H. Jump
Between this lovely late 19th-century Brooklyn building and this horrific modern architectural eyesore – an ultramarine gem is patiently waiting to be unobscured once again.
© Frank H. Jump 1997
RIP: Olive Riley – Reckitt's Blue Reference from The World's Oldest Blogger's Last Posting Before Her Death
© Frank H. Jump
Kevin Walsh (Forgotten-NY) just forwarded me a message from Dawn Eden (formerly from NY Daily News) about the death of an Australian woman, who apparently was deemed the “world’s oldest blogger” by conservative blogger Duane Lester (All American Blogger). In Lester’s posting, he included the last posting from Olive Riley’s Blog. Here’s an excerpt:
In a post titled “Washing Day,” Riley wrote: “You 21st Century people live a different life than the one I lived as a youngster in the early 1900s. Take washing day, for instance. These days you just toss your dirty clothes into a washing machine, press a few switches, and it’s done.”
She then described how she helped do laundry as a youngster, starting with finding “a few pieces of wood to fire the copper for Mum.”
“When the water in the copper began to boil, Mum would add a cupful of soap chips, and throw in a cube of Reckitt’s Blue wrapped in a muslin bag to whiten the clothes,” she wrote. “Then she put in all the dirty clothes, first rubbing out the stains with a bar of Sunlight soap. … that was jolly hard work.”
Olive died last Saturday at a nursing home in New South Wales at age 108.
Reckitt's Blue – Brooklyn 1997
© Frank H. Jump
Here’s a sign that has now been covered up again- perhaps to be revealed in another 100 years.
Go to the assignments page and answer the five questions.
