With a title like “The History of the Garage Door”, I know you are intrigued. But actually, it is a more interesting story than you might think. And it leads directly to you!
The history of the garage door could date back to 450 BC when chariots were stored in gatehouses. What we think of as a garage door first started to appear in some form in the U.S. in the very early 1900’s. As the car became an increasingly vital part of society, there was a need for somewhere to store it. Since a carriage house was a building that housed everything to do with your means of transportation, at first, cars were kept next to the horses, in the same building. The smell became intolerable, so new buildings were created. The first garages were a lot like our modern-day parking lots, but with only one level. It was a successful business as people would get a parking space, along with about 100 other cars, in a heated garage that was maintained and cleaned. But quickly, there became too many cars to accommodate and once again people looked to store their cars closer to home… but seperate from their horses. And the garage, as we know it, was developed.
The development of the first garage was accompanied, of course, by the development of the first garage door! Originally, they worked like barn doors, swinging open. But that was not practical. They did not last to heavy wear and tear and snow would make it impossible to open the door without shoveling clear its path first. New garage doors were created rapidly. First, doors that moved on a sliding track, moving sideways across the front of the garage. This was upgraded to a door that was sectioned and hinged, so that it could fold around a corner and take up much less space.
At last, along came C.G. Johnson. In 1921, Johnson invented the first overhead door that would be lifted upward and fold along the garage ceiling. In 1926, Johnson went one step further and created the first electric door opener. Johnson went on to found the Overhead Door Company!
So, the creation of the garage door leads directly to the creation of the Overhead Door Company! You can continue an unbroken line directly from the first overhead garage door all the way through the years to your garage door.
