Stora Essingen island is among the finest residential areas in central Stockholm today. But it was not always like that. In the mid-19th century, the island was known as "Devil’s island" (Djävulsö) where convicts cut the paving stones for the city of Stockholm. The convicts were taken by barge to Stora Essingen in the morning and back to their cells in Långholmen in the evenings (reveal the story of Långholmen prison here
https://reveal.world/story/prison-in-the-heart-of-stockholm). By the beginning of the 20th century the convicts and the stone business were gone and another industry emerged on the island - Steam Laundry owned by members of the Wallenberg family.
Essinge Steam Laundry was built on the northern tip of the island in 1909. Its predecessor was located in Nacka. The laundry manager Oscara Abrahamsson was the illegitimate child of André Oscar Wallenberg. When the complaints about the laundry's water pollution became too many, they moved from Nacka to Stora Essingen.
It was a large washing facility. The tall factory chimney became a landmark visible from Lilla Essingen, Alvik, Traneberg and Fredhäll. Initially, all machinery was powered by a steam engine, hence the name. In the 1920s the company arranged electricity supply to the island and upgraded the machinery.
Essinge Steam Laundry proclaimed that they used "only excellent detergents” and that they produced their own soap lye. They praised the soft, clean water from Lake Mälaren, thanks to which the linen got its "dazzling white color". It was sun-dried outside and got "the smell of sea air and coniferous forest". Nothing was said about the acidic emissions in Lake Mälaren, which are clearly visible on contemporary aerial photographs.
The business went extremely well. Not least thanks to the Wallenbergs' large contact network which contributed to the influx of assignments. Customers included hotels, hospitals, well-to-do private individuals and the royal court.
The laundry was destroyed by a severe fire in 1963. It was not rebuilt because of the planned city highway, which would have taken over part of the site anyway.
The Steam Laundry may be long gone, but not forgotten. Several neighborhood and street names in the northern part of the island remind of the past: house blocks Ångtvätten (The Steam Laundry), Tvålen (The Soap), Tvättkorgen (The Laundry Basket), Tvättbräda (The Washboard), Tvättbaljan (The Laundry Tub), Bykkaret (the Bath Tub), Strykjärnet (The Iron), and streets Strykerskevägen (Ironer’s street) and Tvätterskevägen (Washerwoman's street). What remains today of the Essinge Steam Laundry itself is an abandoned earth cellar that belonged to villa Källberg and some concrete plinths in the water's edge that belonged to the coal house.
Photo: 1930, Oscar Bladh
