Many “boomers” may recall seeing and possibly using the reel type mower seen above. Though labor intensive, they did a good job and are still used by some with postage-stamp sized yards. (Photo Provided)

By Harold Hawk of the [Parkersburg] News Staff

This wet spring and early summer has made for a grinding season of grappling with the grass – but despite that aching back you might take some comfort in realizing that Grandpa had it a lot rougher.

While he didn’t have as large a lawn as most today, he didn’t have a power mower either – the first one wasn’t invented until 1902.

And Great-Grandfather had to bend his back even more pushing the early type reel mowers which were introduced in 1830 when the first mechanical mower was patented in England. But only 1500 of these were sold between that date and 1860.

Of course, before that time it was scythe, sickle and sweat to swath the growing green grass.

After the first mechanical reel mowers were introduced, things began to happen in the industry.

The first power was added in 1842 when a man named Shanks, of “Shank’s Mare” fame patented a horse-drawn mower.

Most of the early hand mowers moved on massive iron rollers and featured a reel blade that worked against a parallel bedplate.

It was not until 1869 that an English firm patented a side-wheel lawn mower driven by internal teeth in the wheels that engaged pinions in the wheel spindle and was considered lighter than the previous other types. Later improved models of this basic concept were probably the mowers some of the older persons living today [this was written in 1978] were still using into the 1950s. [See photo.]

Following WWI, mass production and the general awakening of the American industrial giant brought forth a host of power mowers and hand mower manufacturers.

From 1918 to 1925 millions of the familiar hand-push reel mowers were made by scores of manufacturers in the United States and abroad. But by 1925, the gasoline-powered reel mower began to take a bigger and bigger share of the market.

The electric power mower also made its debut in the early 1920s and rapidly gained in wide popularity. One firm also mass produced an electric mower several years later which featured headlights for night mowing.

The almost immediate acceptance of these lighter and more efficient mowers is easy to understand when you think about some of the giant and cumbersome mowers being used up until that time.

So, it’s not hard to understand why the lighter, more versatile and cheaper hand push and power lawn mowers began to take over the market in the mid-1920s.

These whirling grasshogs were destined to take over the industry – and today have found homes in virtually every garage or basement in the country.

Grandpa’s scythe swaths were a tedious task – and for that reason he usually just made a couple of passes around the house and a path to the “bath.”

But, as his more sophisticated grand-children came along to develop today’s suburbs where large, landscaped lawns and grounds were a status symbol, they soon found the new pusher power rotary still leaving them puffing on this extra manicured acreage.

Again, responding almost immediately to this new market potential, the industry introduced the riding rotary, now popular in almost any size.

Not many “gentlemen farmers” or estate owners are without a rider today. While grandpa got calluses from just cutting the “corners” of his yard, today home-owners ride in cushioned comfort over acreage on which grandpa would have raised a crop of corn.

Excerpts from

The Parkersburg News

July 2, 1978

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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.