Salt Lake City: Livability in the 21st Century

ALSCO INC.
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Above: Alsco’s first processing facility, located on 130-138 West 100 South.
Below: Alsco’s second processing facility, located at 33 East 600 South.
From restaurants and healthcare clinics to processing,
repair, and manufacturing facilities, Alsco provides its clients
with freshly laundered and pressed linens and uniforms as
well as a wide variety of washroom and mat products for
lease or purchase.
George A. Steiner made his first foray into the linen
business when he was only fourteen years old. Working odd
jobs to help support his family, George was hired part-time
to deliver cloth towels in Lincoln, Nebraska, for three dollars
per week. Less than a year later, George jumped at the
opportunity to purchase the business for $50.80. On August
15, 1889, George became the new owner of a towel route
connected with the Lincoln Steam Laundry, and by 1891 his
younger brother, Frank M. Steiner, became an equal partner
in the business, which they called the Lincoln Towel and
Apron Supply Company. The purchase included few assets–
an armful of roller and hand towels and a few ten cent
wooden rollers that were hanging on customers’ walls.
However, George and Frank were enterprising and frugal,
and their business began to grow.
During the 1890s, the worst economic depression so far in
the history of America hit. Corn prices dropped considerably,
which greatly affected Nebraska’s economy. With the early
frosts, droughts and blizzards, the company suffered more.
Banks and crops failed. The Lincoln Towel and Apron Supply
Company in Nebraska began to struggle, along with most other
businesses, as customers reduced their accounts. The young
Steiner brothers met hard times head-on–by looking to expand.
Undaunted by their difficulties, George acted on
information from friends, who had told him that Salt Lake
City, Utah, was a beautiful and prosperous place. George was
further encouraged by his college friend, George Dern, a past
Utah governor and U.S. Secretary of War, who operated a
business in Utah and was doing well. Thus, with Frank
running their company in Nebraska, George moved to Salt
Lake City to start up a new business.
In Salt Lake City, the new company, named American
Linen, rapidly thrived. By 1899 it was large enough for
George to rent his first plant, which was located on First
South long before Abravanel Hall was built there to host the
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