It all started with the invention of the hanger. That one little thing we use daily, unless you’re a teenager, and take for granted, never stopping to think how this simple thing set off a complex series of events like a small rock rolling down a snowy mountain that becomes a giant snowball by the time it gets to the bottom.
During Constantine’s reign over the Roman Empire, traders from the Far East introduced a new product: the hanger. Constantine was impressed by the traders’ demonstration of how this device could reduce clutter and keep his royal garments more presentable. However, once he began using hangers he discovered he no longer needed his treadmill and declared it “treadmillius obsoletious.”
Not wishing to scrap the treadmill outright, Constantine was at odds with what to do with it. When one of his advisors, Darylious Announcerious, suggested he put it up for public sale to raise money for his conquests, the ruler jumped at the idea.
So inspired by this novel concept, Constantine decided to liquidate other assets he no longer used or needed. Having conducted many a successful military campaign, the Emperor immediately had his staff collect, organize, and price his items. Then he sent servants out across the capitol city to tell the people about his sale. This became the first yard sale in recorded history.
Later this became a tradition after kingdoms were conquered. The vanquished had their valuables seized because, as the saying goes, to the victor goes the spoils. Of course, when you get new stuff, you have to get rid of the old stuff to make room. So, yard sales were often held after such conquests.
The advent of electronic communication kicked the concept of Swap Shop into high gear. It was May 24, 1844, that Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message long distance. It happened on an experimental line from Washington, D.C. to Boston. As you likely learned in history class, the first message was the Bible verse, “What hath God wrought?” What the textbooks never include is the second message sent, “I have just purchased hangers and now have a treadmill for sale.” While someone saw the commercial potential in selling advertising on the telegraph, it was not to be as the literacy rate was much lower then and not everyone could afford their own telegraph anyway.
The telephone came along in 1874. While it was a great way to get the word out, you could only do it one person at a time. Of course, it didn’t take long to call everyone in the book to solicit your used treadmill, as there weren’t a handful of people with a phone in any given city. Such were the early days of phone solicitation.
The world would have to wait until Christmas Eve, 1906, to realize the possibility of unloading those unwanted treadmills discovered after purchasing hangers. That is when Reginald A. Fessenden accomplished the first radio broadcast of music and entertainment. Transmitted from Brant Rock, Massachusetts, it was received by ships sailing along the Atlantic coast.
It’s been said that innovation happens when technology collides with opportunity on the highway of life. I know because I’m the one who said it. And that’s exactly what happened when an innovative broadcaster named John W. Jacobs, Jr. saw how the hanger, the telephone and the radio could all work together to better humanity by ridding homes of unwanted clutter while saving certain people hard-earned money on items they were under the delusion they desperately needed, namely used treadmills. These were people who didn’t own hangers because homes in those days had little closet space. As modern homes began to be built with bigger closets, the need to move those treadmills only grew.
Thus, Swap Shop was born.
