Not real sure why most of these dispensers were made of wood...they got splashed with water, bluing, starch, bleach and who knows what else? It did give them a great shabby chic appearance though. I love the little wood knobs on the top that lift the lids up to add the detergent into the box as well as shake it out into the wash tub. Do you remember the ironing day sprinkler? This one is a bottle painted red with cute Mexican motif decal around it. Did you know that liquid bluing whitens fabric with a dye called "Prussian Blue", which is a chemical named ferric hexanocyanoferrate?
Linit is a laundry starch and there are various bar soaps, P&G, Ivory, Fels-Naptha, Bon-Ami. There's also a red and white shaving brush with a shaving mug from Old Spice, and a round bar of shaving soap in the bottom for grand-dad to lather up!
In the cubbies below are Boraxo, Sani-Flush, Bel-Dine, Bon-Ami and other notable soaps and cleansers of a by-gone era....however some are still on the scene today. Note that laundry soap dispenser on the right is a metal one with a really nice design.






