Development of the Wheelchair    

by Mike Collier

The first use of the "wheeled chair" is most often attributed to the German inventer Eric Von Bulenheimer, in 1672. It is said that Eric's mother was unable to walk, due to club feet, and her son designed this device to help her with the farming chores. Although not handicapped himself, Eric was also fond of tooling around the countryside in this device, observing nature and visiting with neighbors. One sad note is that Eric met his untimely death when he once lost control of his new invention, plummeting over the rocky cliffs into the ocean below. Eric's body, nor any trace of the "wheeled chair," were ever found.

In later years the wheelchair went through a series of developmental changes and perfections. Some of the earliest versions were wheelchairs with twelve-foot diameter wheels and a steam powered motorized version. These innovations were short-lived, however, and the modern version of today has seen little basic change in the last hundred years.

Necessity during the Civil War caused the popularization of the wheelchair in this country in the 1860s. The exorbitant number of amputations amongst soldiers in both the North and the South brought forth large factories turning out thousands of wheelchairs a day. A little known Civil War fact is that several Union and Confederate Wheelchair Brigades were formed, toward the end of the war. With non-handicapped officers in charge these units engaged in numerous hard fought campaigns, particularly in the flatlands of Georgia. The 527th Massachusetts Wheelchair Volunteers became one the highest decorated units of the war.

Today's wheelchair has seen many changes and developments during its conception and evolvement. Handicapped persons living today owe much to the men and women who took part in this process.