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November 1939. "Trucks loaded with mattresses at San Angelo, Texas. These mattress factories use much local cotton." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Not only are the mattresses completely exposed to dirt, weather and everything else but how about the guy SITTING on one in the truck? Like someone said, rarely did people go out to buy a new mattress but if I did I certainly wouldn't want one from THIS company. While I think the good old days may have been great in some ways, I am happy to be living today when it comes to stuff like this.
Lived there for a number of years. Great place. Great people. Great place to raise a family.
I was just in front of their former store in San Angelo this past Saturday. It's being renovated into a restaurant/bar type establishment. San Angelo has a very historic old downtown and is somewhat of a heaven for lovers of old buildings.
Great Photo, other than the mattresses it reminds me of a scene from The Last Picture Show.
From front to back: 2 Internationals(fleet #7 & 2), Ford ca.1937, Chevrolet 1934/1935 type, Ford, Dodge etc. (too fuzzy). The lone truck on the right with the right hand spare is a Dodge (note the ram). The 2 door sedan is a 1933/34 Ford and the black 2 dr waiting for a wash is a Model A Ford.
Seems as though the new mattresses would travel better is they were packaged a bit better; just a thought from the perspective of the distant future.
Growing up and living in my parents' house for over 20 years, I cannot remember ever having a brand new mattress delivered. Just seems everyone had mattresses they were not using and when one was needed, it was offered to us by a relative or friend. These days we are told that after 8 years, it is full of dust mites and horrible, dangerous, potentially fatal vermin, germs, etc. Sometimes it is hard to understand how we survived those risks. My current new mattress has "pillowtops" on both sides,special back support sectioning, carrying handles and is almost 20" thick and it takes two strong men to move it, not to mention the mind-boggling cost. Life was so simple then.
These look like Studebakers but I haven't been able to figure exactly what model.
I don't know about other states, but as late as the 1960s, many small towns in Texas had local companies that made mattresses. The town in East Texas where my mother grew up had a mattress company, a storefront operation much smaller than this one in San Angelo. The mattresses (like ones my grandparents had) were simple affairs stuffed with cotton, used with an open spring foundation. As a kid, I thought they were the best mattresses made.
The "S.H.D." on the trailers stands for "State Highway Department", which is now known as TxDOT.
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