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blog: By Vicki Matranga, Design Programs Coordinator
It’s January, and our calendars are focused on March, when our 115th Show will unite the industry. The current International Home + Housewares Show has evolved into a busy four-day gathering in Chicago, from a complex family tree of Show names, dates and predecessor sponsoring organizations. For 73 years, IHA has been sponsoring this major event, which is the premier home products show in the world. We’ll take a look at some of these earlier Shows in the weeks remaining until we meet at McCormick Place, March 10-13.
In January 1948, the industry met at the National Housewares and Major Appliance Exhibit at Chicago’s International Amphitheater. This event 64 years ago was welcomed as a first step into a new era. Sponsored by the National Housewares Manufacturers Association (NHMA), an organization formed just two years earlier, in 1946, from the merger of two competing groups with similar names, it was the first Show in Chicago in a venue with a large open floor space used for expositions and conventions. Earlier Shows, from the 1920s through 1941, in Chicago had been held in hotels—exhibitors booths were in the hotel rooms (!). There were no shows during World War II and the first Show sponsored by the newly-formed NHMA took place in Philadelphia Convention Hall, April 27-May 2, 1947. The Amphitheater proved too small for exhibitor demand and the January Show moved to Chicago’s Navy Pier the following year, where it remained until 1961 when the Show moved to the just-constructed McCormick Place on the Lake. For many years, NHMA sponsored two shows per year. In 1948, its “Midyear Exhibit” took place from May 30 to June 4 at the Atlantic City Auditorium.
The January 1948 Show took place over eight days, January 15 to January 22, with Sunday the 18th closed all day. Exhibits were open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Annual Dinner Party with dancing and entertainment was held on Tuesday, January 20, at the Stevens (now Hilton) Hotel, with cocktails at 6:30 p.m. and dinner at 7:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom. (The Show hosts the 15th annual Housewares Charity Foundation Gala Dinner dinner in this same venue on Monday, March 12, 2012).
Spacious exhibitor booths were furnished with comfy sofas and ashtrays. They were framed in the cavernous space by sheeting and drapery, as the Amphitheater commonly hosted livestock expositions in the city, then still known as the meat-packing capitol of the world. Private meeting rooms were shielded by curtains. Few examples of featured products were placed in booths set almost like living rooms. “Exhibits” were staffed by men dressed in dapper suits who often wore fedoras. Women appeared as models and demonstrators; the serious sales business was primarily the business of men. (Those were the days of “stag” parties for conventioneers….) The Exhibitors Directory listed 513 companies that displayed products that are no longer included in our Show such as curtain stretchers, garden furniture, seeds, fertilizer and lawn mowers, washing machines, ironers, ranges and dishwashers. Many companies offered small kitchen electrics, vacuum cleaners, cleaning supplies, heaters and fans, tableware, cookware and hand tools, closet organizers, bathroom accessories and plastic wares.
See the booths of Proctor Electric Company (Philadelphia, Pa.), Bissell Carpet Sweeper Co. (Grand Rapids, Mich.), The Hoover Company (North Canton, Ohio) and KitchenAid (Division of Hobart Manufacturing Co., Troy, Ohio) at the January 1948 Show. Their company names may have changed—now Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc., BISSELL, and KitchenAid—yet the products of these companies will entice today’s buyers just as they did 64 years ago.
Bissell's booth from 1948
You can see more photos of booths and demonstrations from the 1948 Housewares Show on our Facebook page in the Housewares History photo album.
Much has changed over the years, yet even in today’s environment of rapid and global business transactions, the International Home + Housewares Show continues its focus—exciting new products and the value of meeting people in person—to bring 60,000 people together.
See you March 10-13, 2012 at Chicago’s McCormick Place!
Learn more about the history of IHA and the Show by visiting http://www.housewares.org/iha/about/iha_history.aspx
Thanksgiving from the last to the fourth Thursday of November. That same year, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” entered popular culture as a Montgomery Ward Christmas promotion. Each year, Ward (Sears’ main competitor) gave away millions of the charming story; Rudolph was set to music in 1949.
Educating the next generation of cooks, kids’ kitchen sets featured miniature versions of common appliances like mixers and blenders—just like Mom’s.
Electric popcorn makers, fry pans, can openers, vertical broilers and toaster ovens brought stylish colors—tones of gold, green and orange—to Mom’s kitchen. Fondue sets and warming trays topped the lists of trendy hostesses.
Today’s homes need many products to keep track of shoes, clothes, and toys. While shopping for storage supplies, you were probably thinking about how to squeeze your stuff into a space that could use a few more inches of shelving. The organizing business keeps on growing, as we pack our busy lives into tighter spaces, and the business of making organizing products has grown immensely in recent decades. In 1946, when Whitmor began in Brooklyn, New York as a pioneer in the manufacturing of garment bags, it would have been impossible to imagine the variety of items the company would be producing 65 years later. They now make closet racks, soft storage, wire frame storage units, shelving, containers, laundry hampers and garment care products.
Pressure cooking is a method of cooking with steam in an airtight pot. The boiling point of water increases as the pressure increases, and the pressure built up inside the cooker allows the liquid in the pot to rise to a higher temperature before boiling. Infused with flavor, food cooks three times faster in this vessel, which uses valves to control the release of the steam. You can 
What’s a loofah? It’s a vine-grown vegetable that looks like a zucchini. Loofah (or luffa) is eaten when it’s young and its juice is used for medicines. When dried, loofah can be used to create bath or kitchen sponges and products from sandals to furniture.
RubBits™ work for tough or gentle cleaning. They can be used for cleaning items in the garage, basement or kitchen sink–safe and healthy for scrubbing fruits and vegetables or for cleaning plates or kitchen surfaces.
How about corn cobs, peach pits and walnut shells to help you scour your cooking pots or patio furniture!?
