It all started with ears, Chester Greenwood’s ears. Chester’s ears got cold. They got so cold something had to be done. That something was an invention by a fifteen-year-old boy that would support him for the rest of his life. The invention? Earmuffs. Later, when Chester Greenwood had become a legend, newspaper writers started the story that his ears turned weird colors in the cold.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “Chester Greenwood’s ears were so sensitive that they turned chalky white, beet red, and deep blue (in that order) when the mercury dipped.” Talk to the Greenwood descendants and the facts of the matter are different. What was wrong with Chester’s ears? “Just cold,” says grandson George Greenwood. “Big and cold.”

The neighbors in Farmington, Maine, had always been impressed by Chester’s drive and initiative. As one of. six kids in a farm family on the back Falls Road struggling to make ends meet, Chester did his best to help out. The family kept several laying hens, and Chester walked an eight-mile route from house to house selling eggs. Sometimes he sold fudge or other candies such as peppermints and drop sweets that he himself had made.

But for all Chester’s industry, the flash of inspiration for his famous kid invention came to him at a moment when he had decided to relax and have some fun. One day in the winter of 1873, Chester walked to nearby Abbot Pond to try out a pair of new skates. The nip in the air sent him racing home. He found “Gram” in the farmhouse kitchen and asked her to help him fashion something to shield his ears. Chesters ears itched fiercely at the touch of wool, so the everyday muffler most kids wrapped about their heads was out of the question.

The Greenwood Champion Ear Protector, as he later called the device, didn’t take much time to put together. Chester supplied the idea and the material; his grandmother’s fingers contributed the sewing skill. It was breathtakingly simple. The muff required bending some wire, cutting soft insulating material, and then sewing a few stitches.

To shield his ears, Chester decided on a combination of beaver fur on the outside and black velvet for the surface against the ear. For the headband, he chose a soft wire known as farm wire, a precursor of baling wire. Some accounts say the contraption was then attached to his cap. The Ear Protector proved an instant hit. All over Farmington and in the surrounding community, kids started to pester their parents and grandparents to make the thing.

Despite his friends’ enthusiasm, Chester wasn’t satisfied. The first model didn’t work so well. “The ears flapped too much,” according to his granddaughter Jackie. Like many inventions, the Greenwood earmuff was a great idea that needed some refinements. The first step was a change in materials. Chester decided to try flat spring steel, three-eighths of an inch wide, for the band. Two improvements resulted: the new band enabled him to attach a tiny hinge to each ear flap so the muff could fit snugly against his ears. And the springy steel allowed him, when he was finished using the muff, to coil it flat and stuff the contraption in his pocket.

The result? Greenwood had an invention that took on a life of its own. Everyone, not ‘just kids or people allergic to wool, had to have the Ear Protector. In the beginning, the popular muff sold in one style. “Like Henry Ford’s auto, the Ear Protector came in any color you wanted as long as it was black,” says grandson George. Chester seemed pretty satisfied with it. “I believe perfection has been reached,” he stated in advertising his earmuff.

On March 13, 1877, the United States Patent Office awarded him patent #188,292. Greenwood was just eighteen years old at the time. Soon after, he established a factory in a brick building in West Farmington, a place he called The Shop. Later, Chester expanded to Front Street in downtown Farmington and had more than twenty full time employees turning out Ear Protectors on the second floor. In 1883, his factory was producing 30,000 muffs a year, and by 1936 the annual output had risen to 400,000.

When he died in 1937 at the age of seventy-nine, Greenwood was a Maine celebrity. In addition to running the muff business, Greenwood had been granted more than 130 patents. They included improvements on the spark plug, a decoy mouse trap called the Mechanical Cat, Chester’s version of the shock absorber, a hook for pulling doughnuts from boiling oil, the Rubberless Rubber Band, and the Greenwood Tempered Steel Rake.

Curiously, even after Greenwood automated most of “The Shop”, his muff business could not do without hands that could sew. There was only one way to attach fabric to the hinged flap, the way Gram had done it in the farm kitchen when they made the first model. Women and men in the area took the piecework home, and it spread as a cottage industry, an industry whose labor force is made up of people working at home. Chester’s kid invention, in its heyday, “supported half of Franklin County,” according to one resident.

CHESTER GREENWOOD DAY DEC 3 2011 FARMINGTON MAINE

PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release
Contact Info: Stacie Bourassa, Executive Director
Franklin County Chamber of Commerce
Phone: 207-778-4215
Fax: 207-778-2438
Email: stacie@franklincountymaine.org
Web: www.franklincountymaine.org
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Chamber announces Chester Greenwood Day partial listing of events

FARMINGTON - The Franklin County Chamber of Commerce will soon host the 35th annual celebration of Farmington’s own Chester Greenwood, the inventor of the earmuff and many other innovations. This year’s events will take place on Saturday, December 3, in honor of Mr. Greenwood’s birthday. A partial listing of events is as follows:

• The American Legion Post #28 Auxiliary will host its annual holiday craft fair from 9 am – 3 pm, in the Legion building on the corner of High and Middle Streets. Attend to your holiday shopping needs, and enjoy a wide range of local handmade goods and plenty of treats.

• The Franklin County Arts & Crafts Assoc. will hold its annual craft show from 9 am – 3 pm in the UMF Olsen Student Center. Check off your holiday to do list by finding the perfect, locally crafted gift.

• The Farmington Emblem Club’s annual craft fair is from 9 am – 2 pm at the Farmington Elks Lodge. A well-established collection of vendors and items, this is one not to be missed!

• The Farmington Historical Society will be displaying vintage Greenwood items at the Titcomb House from 9:30 – 3 p.m., as well as selling beautiful holiday wreaths (beginning at 9 a.m.)

• Annual Chester Greenwood Parade begins at 11 a.m. through downtown Farmington. Entries for the parade can begin lining up in the Mallett School Parking lot (Quebec St. entrance) by 10:00 a.m. Judging of floats will be conducted en route this year, so the crowd can plan to find a panel of local celebrity judges stationed outside the Franklin Savings Bank Loan Center on Main St. A total of four cash prizes will be awarded in two categories: Adult (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) and Youth Organization (Best Overall). Prizes will be awarded directly after the parade at the Franklin County Courthouse- by our very own Chester Greenwood. Please note, candy throwing will be permitted by individuals walking along the parade route only – not from the floats themselves, for safety reasons. Pre-registration is not required, but forms and event rules are posted online at www.franklincountymaine.org. FREE and open to the public. This year’s theme is ‘A Chorus of Carols,’ so find a way to include a favorite holiday song into the entry. As always, earmuffs must be incorporated into each float.

• Annual Chamber Chili Challenge following the parade in the Bangor Savings Bank building on Main Street from 12:00-1 p.m. Pre-registration required, drop off your entry between 11:30-11:45 a.m. Forms available online. FREE and open to the public. Chester Greenwood birthday cake to be served after the chili contest, courtesy of Hannaford – Farmington.

• 5th Annual Gingerbread House Contest! Entries may be dropped off at the Main Street entrance of Bangor Savings Bank on Saturday morning between 8:30 - 9 a.m. The gingerbread creations will be on display for public viewing from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Entries will be reviewed by a panel of judges and prizes awarded for Kids (12 & Under) and Adult categories. This year’s theme is ‘A Chorus of Carols,’ so find a way to tie it all in! Pre-registration required. Forms available online. FREE and open to the public.

• In-Clog-Neat-O, the popular dance troop, will return to this year’s line up from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. in front of Bangor Savings Bank on Main St.

• After a great kick-off to the Gerry Wiles Holiday Food Basket Drive at the Chamber’s Annual Meeting, we’re asking for your help to reach our goal of feeding 130 Franklin County families this holiday season! Bring your donation of non-perishable food items to the parade and help support our neighbors in need.

• The Chester Greenwood Flag Raising Ceremony will take place at the Franklin County Courthouse after the parade and prize presentation at approximately 12:15 p.m.

• Horse and Wagon Rides following the parade from noon – 1 p.m. with pickup to be determined.

• New this year, the Downtown Business Association will be holding an Earmuff Fashion Show! Don your earmuffs and head to the Gazebo in Meetinghouse Park for 1 p.m. to share your cozy fashions with the rest of the crowd. Sen. Tom Saviello to emcee!

• The Polar Bear Club members’ annual dip into frigid Clearwater Lake in Industry will take place at 3 p.m., and is always a crowd pleaser! Will YOU join the club this year?

• As a special holiday promotion, the Franklin County Chamber will be offering ‘Chamber Bonus Bucks’ from Dec 1-3! For any purchase of $100 of Bucks or more, you’ll get 10% free. So, if you buy $200 in Bonus Bucks, and we’ll give you $220! It’s that simple, and you never have to worry about them expiring. Think local as you plan your holiday shopping- think Bonus Bucks! Stop into the Chamber office between 9 am – 4 pm on Dec.1 &2 to grab yours, or pick them up at Bangor Savings Bank while you’re at the Parade on the 3rd.(This promotion is good for purchases from $100 to $500.)

Please note, the Farmington Rotary Club’s Annual Festival of Trees will be held in the UMF North Dining Hall on Saturday, December 10.

For up-to-date information on any of the events taking place on Chester Greenwood Day, please visit the Franklin County Chamber website at www.franklincountymaine.org, call the Chamber office at 778-4215, or email: marc@franklincountymaine.org.