Keep Klean Building
810 E. Third

Nominated for the Kansas & National Registers of Historic Places 2006
 

(Quoted from the Kansas State Historical Society newsletter, Topeka, Kansas, February 19, 2007)

"The Keep Klean Building is significant for its association with the steam laundry and towel supply industries in Wichita and as an example of early twentieth-century fireproof industrial construction. The building was constructed in 1929 to house the Wichita Towel Supply, which was expanding its base of operations into a new fireproof building.

"It was called “Keep Klean,” a name that was inscribed in the limestone above the main entrance, and referred to the “Keep Klean System” that owner Brace Helfrich developed and franchised. In addition to managing the towel supply, Helfrich also established and managed the Western Cabinet Manufacturing Company and was the President of the Wichita Service Garment Company, Inc. He also served as vice president of both the Southwest Linen Supply Association and Linen Supply Association of America.

"The building’s exterior represents the early twentieth-century Commercial Style, which is most often seen in downtown commercial structures from the 1910s and 1920s."