My mother told me yesterday about a scene in January 1946, when her family moved to a new house: Her father poured a concrete pedestal to put the washing machine on. It was a front-loading machine, and the extra height made it easier for her mother to put the laundry in. Around the same time, they became one of the first families in Ann Arbor to buy a dryer, so they no longer had to hang laundry outside to dry. In the winter, they would let it freeze and then dry. My mother associates that dryer with the shift in industrial production from arms to household appliances after World War II. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 10 October 2026)