A Brief History of the Garage Door

Rarely does one find a garage these days without a door, but that certainly hasn’t always been the case. The history of garage doors is actually quite interesting! The very first garage doors are thought to date back to the Roman empire, when steel gates were used to protect chariots.

In the early 1900’s, car owners began to keep their vehicles in carriage houses, which were like small wooden barns. The carriage house doors were effective in protecting the horse and buggy that used to be the main form of transportation, but they were “swing out “style, which took much effort. These old style garage doors worked adequately for cars, but were handmade and built onto existing sheds. This caused some issues, as the doors didn’t hold up well, especially in colder climates. Ice and snow would often prevent them from even being opened in the winter. Wear and tear would take its toll quickly and could even make the carriage garage doors dangerous to open.

An early solution was sliding tracks to make safer doors. However, the problem was that in order to have a sliding garage door, the shed needed to be twice the length of the door. The solution was to create hinged folding garage doors that could be bent around a corner in sections.

In 1921, a man named C.G. Johnson created the first overhead garage door. He recognized the need to save space and have a garage door that could be protected from the elements. His invention was very timely because more and more people were able to afford cars with the production of the Ford Model T. This car was manufactured to be accessible to the general public and as a result, more Americans wanted to store their cars and have functioning garage doors.

A few years later, Johnson also invented the electric garage door opener and from then on, the overhead garage door became the first choice for homeowners.

These days, consumers have a variety of choices with the garage doors, from material to architectural styles, to added sensors, and extra storage. Many are also opting for “smart” garage doors that can be opened and closed with the touch of a finger on their cell phone. With all of these options, modern garage doors are a far cry from the steel gates and wooden shed of yesteryear, and it’s always great to have choices!