If you follow history you probably are aware that iron beds were not as popular in the west in the 1800’s as they were east of the Mississippi. Transporting beds to the west back in the 1800’s was not easy. It was costly, time consuming and difficult to transport large heavy items. People moving west found it much easier to chop down a tree, when they got to where they were going, and build a wooden head and footboard. Iron beds did become much more popular when people realized they didn’t have the rodent and insect issues that wooden beds had.
But there were antique iron beds scattered throughout the west in the early and mid-1800’s. One place that seems to have been a popular one with metal beds were the warmer southern states. Particularly New Mexico and Texas found metal beds gave them the elevation off the ground from drafts and freedom from unwanted rodents in bed.
The bed in this photo was one we did for an new adobe style hacienda in Santa Fe. The panels made it even more appropriate for the log beams and color scheme.
With the advent of the train, iron beds, having now become much more transportable from the Pennsylvania, became even more popular in the west.
