Many people have fond memories of their youth and their first experience with a rocking chair is usually one that stands out the most. Even if you can’t recall the exact happenings, you remember that chair that provided you with fun for hours. Perhaps it belonged to your great grandmother and she used to rock you in it while telling you stories, or maybe it was something your own parents gave you and it became your favorite because you could rock for hours on end without tiring yourself. Rocking chairs have many endearing memories to many folks but not many people know about the history of the rocker itself. In the following article we will discover together the beautiful history of the rocker and perhaps you gain an even better respect of your own experiences.
The Winsor Rocking Chair
Rockers were long used on baby cradles and toy rocking horses well before someone decided they would be of use on chairs. Baby cradles alone date back to as early as the 1400s, depicted in paintings of the time. These cradle designs date as far back as the middle ages of Europe. Later the curved bands were applied to children’s toy horses in Germany and gained popularity throughout the Victorian era.
There is some question as to who invented the first wooden rocking chair, however. There are tales that attribute its origin to Benjamin Franklin. There is, however, no historical evidence to back up this claim. Nonetheless, wood rocking chairs can be traced to North America around the 18th century. Originally they were crudely fashioned and used primarily in gardens. The chairs were basic wood chairs of the times with curved rocker bands attached to the legs. Around 1725, England was introduced to these chairs in the times of King George, where they were constructed with hooped backs for greater comfort.
The backs of these outdoor rocking chairs are rounded in the shape of hoops (meaning a single piece of wood was bent over to form a hoop shape and was connected to the seat area at each end to form the framework of the backrest). Vertical spindles were placed inside the hoop to further the support and integrity of the chair’s back, being pegged into the board of the seat which gave the appearance of a birdcage.
That is where the ambiguity of the history begins as what was to eventually be called the Windsor rocking chair, first believed to be from the garden chairs found at the Windsor castle near the middle of the eighteenth century, England, either right around the time or just before they were made popular in America, there was another record at the time (1708) found in Philadelphia pointing to a will by an unknown person mentioning a Windsor chair. This document, however, has not been authenticated, nor does it mention the chair having rockers so the doubt remains. Regardless of their popularity in England or where they originated, the chairs are attributed to being first produced in North America’s English colonies near Philadelphia as the now world renowned American Windsor.
As popularity spread throughout the colonies, the Windsor took many shapes and was made of varying woods depending on its place of manufacture. Hickory became the favored wood for the backing as it was strong and durable. The backs were spread out enough to set the proportions right and as little wood was used as was necessary in the overall construction of the chair. They were truly works of art and were used almost exclusively as lawn or porch rocking chairs.
Rocking Chairs Today
Over the next century artisans created many styles of rocker based chairs but only few made any notable foothold in the market. The wicker rocking chair was popular as it was easy to make and cost very little to buy. Wicker was soaring in production during the middle 1800s as the textile industry made a move from human made works to animal drafted machine processes as anything made of wood could be made into a wicker piece. Wicker rocking chairs were finely crafted and came in many creative designs and while they weren’t the most durable pieces of furniture they did make and continue to make fine decorative pieces of furniture.
The Boston rocker was one of the more notable chairs of this time period as it became largely used indoors around 1840. These are the rockers that began being passed down through the generations as heirlooms. Boston rockers were the first chairs produced on mass scales and were made for comfort. Another New England favorite, the seats curved to support the buttocks better and the chair had a high back with curved spindles for better posture. There was a larger crest situated at the top than the Windsor had which gave it a more proportioned look. Decorative carvings were the norm for these chairs and many had ornate armrests with knuckled grips at the hands. Some variations used a single splat instead of the six or nine spindles at the back. This offered more stability to the chair as well as making it more comfortable to rest in.
Over the next few centuries to today’s modern rocking chair, there were many transformations, from wicker to Adirondack rocking chairs to iron. Michael Thonet, a fine craftsman from Germany, created a popular chair in 1860 called the Bentwood. It was a graceful design made from bent steamed wood. They were mass produced which made them very affordable and the elegant designs of the bentwood rocking chair made them world famous in a very short time. Meanwhile in America, chairs were being influenced by Renaissance designs, surpassing the often crude colonial era artistry. By the 1900s folding rocking chairs had hit it big and were being mass produced in both America and Europe. They were used widely for outdoor activities and many were known to travel with their chairs.
Today rocking chairs come in a plethora of styles and materials, most of which include plastics and resins. They have taken on sled shapes, Ron Arad’s all-steel design in 1990, tilted upwards when it was not being occupied; others have yielded ski like rockers. You just can’t write about them all in one article but you can get an idea of the importance the rocking chair has had in our history.
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Tags: boston rocker, porch rocking chairs, rocking chair, windsor rocker, windsor rocking chair, wooden rocking chair