A beloved Bench figure may soon become Boise’s latest historic landmark. Betty the Washerwoman has been overlooking Vista Avenue near Overland for about 65 years.
On Monday, Oct. 27, the City Council scheduled a vote to decide if the iconic animatronic will become part of the town’s history.
Standing atop a sign overlooking the Bench neighborhood, Betty is an old-timey mechanical woman, bending over a wash bucket and bobbing up and down as she hand washes clothes.
Her story started in the 1950s, as America’s postwar boom took off. At the time, the G.I. bill helped returning servicemen and women get low-interest mortgages and education. The economy was strong and in Idaho, lots of folks were now able to afford a middle class lifestyle.
That’s when the Bench became a focus of suburban development
“Our automobile culture, our car centric culture, as Americans, was underway,” said Dan Everhart, historian at the Idaho Historic Preservation Society.
“There's a proliferation of all sorts of signage which is meant to attract the passing motorist.,” he said.
Potential customers were now driving by businesses too fast to notice them. Wire framed dinosaurs, giant blinking arrows and roadside Paul Bunyans started popping up all across the country.
“They need something that sort of really catches their attention. It could be the building itself. It could be neon. It could be a moving washerwoman.”
Often called the “Maytag lady,” Betty is actually not a branded marketing prop, which is probably why she is still standing decades after the laundromat closed.
Built sometime between 1959 and 1960, she was the brain child of the owners of the Econo Wash, a laundromat tucked behind a dry cleaning business on Vista Avenue.
Everhart said her homemade charms may explain why her popularity has endured over the years. As far as he knows, she’s a unique model. She’s been refurbished a few times and survived a couple of ownership transfers.
Word on the street is that Betty is also part of a union.
“Because if the temperature in Boise rises over 100 degrees, there's a little switch that shuts her off so she doesn't overheat, she doesn't wash clothes when it's over 100 degrees,” he said.
Mary Jean Wegner and her husband adopted Betty when they bought the old dry cleaning location and opened Cucina di Paolo in 2007.
“When people would come to the restaurant, they would just say, 'oh, you know, when I was a kid. When we saw that lady, we knew we were only just a couple minutes away from our grandma. When I was little, I used to wave at that lady!' and there was just so many stories. I was amazed at how she had touched the heart of so, so many people,” she said.
The Wegners started the popular tradition of dressing her up in different costumes to match changing seasons and holidays.
“I said, you know, she's Boise's biggest dress up doll. Why don't we dress her up?” said Wegner. She attributes her popularity to her wide moon face and big smile.
The couple sold calendars of her many outfit changes and fundraised thousands of dollars for local charities.
After their restaurant closed last year and a new one opened, many in the neighborhood feared the quirky animatronic would be torn down, but it looks like, rain or shine, she is here to stay.
Betty the Washerwoman, already a beloved fashion and labor rights icon of the Bench, could soon also become a historic landmark.
“I think whether people vote on it or not, that's what she already is,” Wegner added.
The Boise City Council will decide on Monday at 6 p.m.
