Baby Carriage

Included among these is a unique baby carriage made in 1811 and presented to the Society by Mrs. Malvina Geiger Lord of Topeka in 1912. The carriage was made for her father, George Geiger, from a design by her grandfather, John.

The Geigers lived in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. When old enough, John Geiger was apprenticed to a carriage maker. While he later became a merchant, John never forgot his skills in carriage making. When George was born, John designed the baby carriage in the style of stage coaches then in use, with a heavy body and a substantial top covered with canvas. Most of the work was done by a more experienced carriage maker, but John made the wheels.

The following description is from the Topeka Capital, April 23, 1927:

"As in large models, each wheel was constructed of five curved wooden segments apiece, bound by iron tires. The sides of the coach are more than sufficient height to keep the baby in; the body about 2 ½ feet long and 15 inches wide, and the whole standing 3 feet high. It has strong iron springs and wide leather thorobraces on which the body rests, making it ride very easily. Some of the original tan paint and black trimming still remain. Altho it is somewhat cumbersome, there always were sturdy Dutch girls to pull it in those days and it was the center of many a frolic among older children of the neighborhood. During the centenary celebration of Harrisburg many years later it had a prominent place in the procession."

George Geiger left Pennsylvania for Ohio in 1831, and later came to Kansas in April, 1867. He was in Topeka until the fall of that year, when he moved to Ellsworth and spent the next two years there. He returned to Topeka where he remained until his death on May 7, 1885. The carriage passed to his daughter, Malvina, who presented it to the Kansas Museum of History.

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