Adirondack History
The history begins around 1900. Mr Thomas Lee, a summer resident of Westport N.Y., spent many hours designing and building lawn chairs. The result of this labour was the Westport Chair. The design success lay in the angles implemented for comfort, the practical and useful wide armrests and the solid durable frame. The story goes that Thomas gave a chair to the carpenter Harry Bunnell. Harry knowing a good thing filed for a patent on the Westport Chair in 1904 and had it granted on the 18th July 1905, having the following within the specification:
“The object of the invention is a chair of the bungalow type adapted for porches, lawns, at camps and also adapted to be converted into an invalid’s chair’ …… ‘a strong durable chair adapted to withstand rough usage and exposure due to weather”
The Westport was made of a wide board for the seat and another for the back; however, during the 20’s carpenters in the Adirondacks used slats rather than wide boards and the name changed. This slatted version of the chair is available today under a variety of names, some of which still retain the name Adirondack. If the name is not universal across the United States the chair design certainly is and has become a symbol of America like ice cream, blueberry pie and hot dogs.