"The more we change, the more we stay the same." This statement has been used to describe many aspects of life, but it is also an apt description of the history of
garages. Another appropriate statement for
garage doors would be, "Necessity is mother of invention". Here's how the garage and ultimately the garage door, became a vital part of the American culture.
When the car was first introduced, despite Henry Ford's desire for it to be owned by the common man, in actuality it was more often purchased by those of the more elite of society. Of course, as cars were a new commodity, most homes were not designed with somewhere to house them when not in use. Consequently, many vehicles were stored in the same building as the wagons and horses. However, the created quite the problem, as the upper crust of society found that storing their vehicle(s) in the same space as the horses often resulted in the auto smelling like the horse!
This problem, led to building what became known as a
garage. The early
garages were little more than what we now use as parking lots. The concept was that is horses could be housed in rows of stalls, then rows of vehicles could be stored similarly. Enterprising business men built large
heated garages were auto owners could store their vehicles when not in use. The novelty soon became a raging success as "garage" owners were able to charge $15-$20 a month to store the vehicles. These
garages worked great for several years until there were more cars in use than could be stored.
With the need to have a convenient place to store one's vehicle in mind, people started looking for an alternative to the
public "garages". They recognized that the carriage house had great potential, if only they could get rid of the animal smells. Soon, many vehicle owners were having special buildings built to house their cars in. The buildings were simple structures with a double door that opened outwards- in essence, they were vehicle barns. This was a great plan except that the door received a great deal of use causing much wear and tear on the strap hinges and in climates where snow was common, it could be extremely challenging at best ( and impossible at worst) to get the cars out of the carriage house. Something had to be done!
With more experimentation, innovative craftsmen ultimately came upon the idea of
sliding garage doors that moved on a single track across the front of the
garage door, but this would require doubling the garage door's width. To offset these "problem" inventors, decided to cut the door into sections then hinge them at intervals. Then in 1921, C.G. Johnson designed a garage door that could be lifted upwards, folding parallel to the floor. A few years later, he invented an electric,
automated garage door opener to help with lifting the heavy doors.
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garage doors and
garage door openers, visit
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