Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - March 25, 1984

Coal helped Victorians keep warm

After one of the century's coldest winters, visitors to the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley show special interest in devices Victorians used to keep warm.

Just a perfunctory glance at high ceilings, open fireplaces, and large stairwells make the modern utility bill payer shudder. Even if coal was a cheap fuel, the problem must have been a difficult one.

Victorians had various auxiliary devices to help keep winter outside the door. When visitors enter the museum, they pass through two pairs of heavy wooden doors. The wooden doors enclose the vestibule. One set can be closed before the other pair is opened. This cumbersome entrance kept weather from reaching the entrance hall and stairwell.

An effective but simple contraption to warm cold extremities is located in the Victorian bedroom. The small, mesh-covered metal receptacle held hot glowing coals. If a far corner of the room was drafty, the receptacle could heat that area. It was moved near tubs used for bathing young children. Small legs on the bottom protected floors from a direct contact with the warm metal. A fireproof surface was advisable. Obviously no government agency at the time was testing or certifying such devices for safety.

The foot warmer, so called because it was close to the feet , is exceptionally well preserved. It has been carefully painted so no identifying labels or trade marks are available to trace the manufacturer.

For some reason, the hot water bottles of England the bed warmers of New England never became popular in the Victorian mid-west. Visitors to the museum remark that homes of the area were often heated by many stoves or a central heating device.

When residents of the mid-west went for drives in winter, devices similar to the one shown here were placed in sleighs and buggies. Of course, lap robes, blankets and muffs were necessary, too.

Perhaps the availability of coal explains the popularity of this type of foot warmer. The Victorian ingenuity made winters bearable without electric blankets, car heaters and electric space heaters.

Reasonable safety precautions had to be observed. Such caution must have been effective since Victorians used the devices in the nursery, the most vulnerable of rooms

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley , 1411 S. Sixth St. , is open from 1 to 4 Sunday through Friday.