The Rambacher Dampf-Waschanstalt Emil Renson (later Emil Renson & Söhne) was one of the first modern industrial laundries in Germany. It was founded in 1882, with a keen sense of the needs of the up-and-coming cosmopolitan spa town of Wiesbaden. With the rapid growth of the city and the accompanying stricter hygiene regulations in the fight against epidemics such as cholera, a reliably germ-free laundry became vital. The technical achievement of the steam laundry was able to guarantee this hygienic safety thanks to thorough boiling with high-pressure steam. In addition, it offered the advantage of gentle textile cleaning, in particular through the circulation of steam instead of mechanical friction as with all other washing machines of the time. Emil Renson received an award for the invention of the "Martin washing machine", for which he held design protection, at the patent exhibition in Frankfurt in 1881 - because of its special laundry protection. Emil Renson (1847-1924), born in Wandre (Belgium), received his specialist knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit from his father Etienne Renson (1809-1890), a steam boiler manufacturer. He had been brought to the Ruhr region in 1856 as a Belgian expert to set up the Renson & Moenting steam boiler factory, the first iron processing plant in Gelsenkirchen, together with the industrialist Heinrich Moenting. His wife Maria Euwens (1856-1922) had married Emil Renson in Gelsenkirchen in 1875. His eldest son Armand (1876-1948), known as Hermann, was also born there before the family moved to the Rhine-Main area.

Rambach was known for its soft water and was ideal as a laundry site. In addition, there was a large lawn area of 7,500 square meters for natural bleaching. The Emil Renson steam laundry soon became a supplier to the Emperor's court. Many people, including those from the surrounding villages, earned their living from Emil Renson, especially women who worked as manglers and ironers. With the help of his wife and later his sons Hermann and Emil, the laundry's clientele continued to grow. Its heyday was closely linked to Wiesbaden's heyday as an international spa town. Almost all the larger hotels in the region were among the customers. The laundry had its own fleet of horses to transport the laundry. The catchment area extended as far as Kronberg in the Taunus and Ingelheim on the other side of the Rhine; a laundry transfer point was set up in Mainz. In 1910, the laundry was able to deliver 75,000 napkins a day, completely ready for the cupboard. It had two steam boilers, two steam engines, eight washing machines, eight centrifuges and eight steam ironers. In addition to the excellent spring water from the Taunus mountains, only the best soap was used, the advertising proudly proclaimed.

With the political and economic changes in the spa town, the situation of the Rambach laundry also changed. Orders had been declining since the First and especially the Second World War. Even the constant modernization of the laundry could not change this. Modernization intensified after 1945, when the washing machines were converted to electric motors. The laundry was now transported in trucks and later in VW buses. In the early 1960s, the company invested in a boiler and a new well. But none of this could stop the family business, now run by the third generation, from closing in 1966. There was no market for a commercial laundry of this size. A 93-year-old former employee from Rambach said that she still sometimes dreams of the old days, of singing cheerfully despite the heat while ironing the fine tucks on the shirts - which was an art in itself - and of "the Renson" reopening. Although this did not happen, he lives on in the character of the laundry owner "Maison", alias Renson, in the novel "Hotel Petersburger Hof" by Hans Dieter Schreeb, at the time of the imperial spa town.

Emil Renson's resting place is in the cemetery in Rambach.