Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - August 12, 1984
By Georgia Jones
Vigo County Historical Society

Irons took wrinkles out of laundry work

"Self heating family charcoal iron with removable top and hardwood handle with shield. Is self heating and requires little attention. Uses ordinary charcoal as fuel, is easily regulated to any desired heat and does away with the hot fire on ironing day. Agents charge $2 - $2.50 for this iron. Weight about seven pounds. Price 87 cents."

That's how the 1908 Sears catalog described it. If you had purchased the iron in 1902 it would have cost you only 85 cents.

The earliest irons were called smoothing boards, fashioned of wood by the husband of a colonial lady, who tired of seeing his wife smooth clothes with the flat of her hands. The boards were often painted with fancy designs.

Pressing irons were probably cast from metal early in this country as smelting was a thriving industry. These would have been the common sadirons made either as a solid piece of iron or with a removable handle, to be heated on a fire bed. Sad, as in sadiron, means heavy.

Charcoal irons have sliding drawers big enough to hold hot coals. Large and cumbersome to use, their greatest disadvantage was the problem of soot and ashes. Some were made with smokestacks designed to direct the heat and smoke away from the worker.

President Andrew Johnson played a role in the story of the iron. When he was 10 years old he worked as a tailor's helper in a shop in North Carolina. His job was to keep the stove hot and the iron smooth, clean and ready to use.

In the latter half of the 19th century ruffles were added to blouses, dresses, petticoats and men's Sunday shirts. These ruffles needed a special iron which was introduced as the "fluter."

One of the most useful irons of the 19th century was the refinement of the sadiron, with its three different bases with one handle to fit all. One four-pound base was rounded for shirts and polishing, a five-pound base was for general family use, and a third, a six-pounder, was for heavy duty use such as ironing men's clothing. These irons were developed and produced by the Enterprise Manufacturing Co., of Pennsylvania.

Gas irons and alcohol-burning irons were two self heating irons in use before electricity. These irons did stay hot, but were responsible for many painfully burned hands.

By 1918 the old irons began losing their popularity as the use of electricity increased. Salesmen again went door-to-door selling their electric irons and giving away samples, much as the peddlers of an earlier time. The old sadirons became book ends or doorstops or found their way into old trunks, never to be used again.