Earmuffs Invented in Maine

When Chester Greenwood of Farmington, Maine, received a new pair of ice skates on Christmas morning (quite an expensive gift in 1873), all he could think of was his ears. “They’ll start aching. They always ache when I’m out in the cold too long,” he complained. His mother suggested wrapping a scarf around his head, but Chester thought that would be too itchy. Desperate to help, she suggested cupping his hands over his ears. Off to the pond he went. But back he came. “I didn’t even have the chance to put my skates on,” he told his mother. “My ears froze up on me as I was walking to the pond. I had to run all the way home.” But the frustrated skater had a brainstorm. Bending ear-sized loops out of wire, he asked his mother to sew pieces of fur around the loops and hook the wires into his hat. Satisfied, he returned to the pond to try out his skates. Once the children noticed Chester’s ear protectors, they no longer could live without a pair. So Chester’s mother spent much of her spare time turning out “Chester’s ear protectors.” Four years later, he patented “ear caps,” improved with a spring that fit over the head and stayed in place. Chester hired extra workers, but the demand was too high. He invented a machine to do the job and opened the world’s first earmuff factory. To this day, the town that earmuffs put on the map still celebrates their inventor and his helpful mom. On Chester Greenwood Day — generally the first Saturday in December — the townspeople of Farmington, Maine, will parade, race, and take the polar bear plunge — all, of course, wearing earmuffs. Excerpt from “’The New England Sampler,” Yankee Magazine, December 1994.