On this day in 1877, this young man from Farmington, Maine, patented his simple invention: earmuffs. Greenwood, who first had the idea for this “improvement in ear-mufflers,” as the patent documents describe it, at the age of 15, turned chilly ears into a business.

When did earmuffs get invented?

For the last 39 years in the state of Maine, the first day of winter has also been known as Chester Greenwood Day, in honor of the man (boy, at the time) who invented the modern-day earmuff in 1873.

Why are earmuffs called earmuffs?

It's the winter of 1873 in Farmington, Maine, and 15-year-old Chester Greenwood had cold ears but wasn't ready to take off his ice skates. The ingenious lad bent the ends of a length of wire into two loops, and had his grandmother cover the loops with bits of beaver fur.