Hoop rolling has roots going back thousands of years. Ancient Greek and Roman children played with hoops, and the toy carried through to medieval Europe and eventually to America. By the Victorian era, it was one of the most recognized childhood pastimes around. The setup varied by kid and by circumstance. Boys typically rolled large, heavy metal hoops guided by a hook or handle, while girls more often used smaller wooden hoops steered with a flat paddle.
The wooden versions were sometimes made from the staves of small kegs — a practical bit of repurposing that would have been second nature in that era. Come spring, the local blacksmith could count on a rush of orders for metal hoops as the season opened up.
The appeal held across generations. As Helen T. Bartschat wrote in the Huntingdon Daily News in 1961, “rolling one’s hoop was a pleasure to boys and girls in this time of year.” She remembered the sound of heavy metal hoops clattering over old brick sidewalks, and recalled that the activity came back reliably every fall too — a twice-yearly ritual tied to weather and restlessness in equal measure.
By the time Bartschat was writing that 1961 column, rolling hoops had already become nostalgic. But the piece also looked at a newer hoop craze that had just swept the country — the hula hoop, which exploded onto the market around 1958. The plastic version originated in California and spread at a remarkable speed. Bartschat noted that at first they sold for $2 each, then dropped to about 50 cents as the market flooded.
The craze reached everywhere — she spotted them “by the thousands on every counter in the New England states from Maine to Cape Cod.” Adults joined in too, though she noted that doctors flagged the risks, since adult spines, unlike the flexible bodies of children, weren’t well suited to the gyrations involved. The fad faded, as fads do, but its connection to the older hoop-rolling tradition was hard to miss.
What links all of it — the Victorian iron hoop, the keg-stave toy, the plastic hula hoop — is how little was needed to make something genuinely fun. No batteries, no instructions and no assembly required. Just motion and balance and a little open space.
Below, we’ve gathered vintage photos from the early 1900s through the 1920s showing children at play with rolling hoops, along with a 1961 newspaper column by Helen T. Bartschat that looks back on the pastime with warmth and a bit of humor.
Do you remember?
by Helen T Bartschat – Huntingdon Daily News (Pennsylvania) May 23, 1961
Rolling hoops and more toys from the olden days
Do you remember the old metal hoop with a handle fastened to it? Almost every boy owned one of these, and in the wintertime, it hung in the old summer kitchen or in the woodshed. The small wooden hoops were usually rolled by the girls, using a small paddle to roll them along.
Rolling one’s hoop was a pleasure to boys and girls in this time of year when we were kids. In almost every generation hoop rolling has been a fad and one that will get rid of an excess of energy in both boys and girls.
Hoops on brick walks
Do you remember how the heavy metal hoops sounded as they were rolled over the old uneven brick walks? Some lighter ones were prized possessions of the girls.
The blacksmiths of town always got orders early in the springtime for these metal hoops. Do you remember the light, hollow sound of the little wooden hoops? They were usually stays off small kegs. As the season rolls on, there will be another fad or sport appear. The fall time is the time for rolling hoops also, and they will be hunted up again.
Rolling hoops has always been fun, good exercise, real pleasure. The fresh air, stimulating exercise of every muscle in the body combine in building good health.
The hula hoop
Do you remember how popular the hula hoop was about three years ago? The craze hit the adults as well as the youngsters and just everyone seemed to be gyrating, winding, bumping, and whooping it up with the varicolored hoops.
The joyful trek to the store to buy them never lagged for a moment after they were put on the market.
Came from California
It is said that the first of this novelty appeared in California, and the crazy just traveled at a terrific rate of speed all over the country. That summer we saw them by the thousands and thousands on every counter in the New England States from Maine to Cape Cod, while on a motor trip.
At first, they brought $2.00 each, but after some months they were a fourth of that price. However, some of them were better hoops and one gets just what he pays for.
Didn’t last long
But like rolling hoops, walking on home-made stilts and other crazes of yesteryear and which are coming back again, the pretty hula hoops didn’t remain popular for long. It was an enjoyable fad for a time, and now we don’t see it.
Hoop-rolling has never been a lost art, but professionals warned adults that hula hoops were for children alone. Unless they are Hawaiian dancers, they should leave the hoops to their children.
After many of them were sold to adults, a painful crawl to the doctor was reported. Grownups can’t seem to leave the children’s toys alone. The supple bodies of the youngsters can be twirled about and doubled up in the most grotesque gyrations but adults end up with backaches and the vertebrae of oldsters could be hula-hooped out of alignment.
So just let the youngsters do the gyrating with the hula hoops if they do get popular again, which we expect they will. Old styles and old customs that are worth anything do come back again in time.
Remember?
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