Figure 1.--This cabinet card portait shows brothers 5 yerar old Fred and 16 year old John. We do not know their last names. Fred wears a blouse kilt suit with tartan trim. His bug vrother weas a doubkle breasted knee pants suit. The portrait is not dated, but the mount and clothes suggest the late-1890s. In this case we know the ages, but we would have guess they were a little younger. This is useful to understand whan trying to assess ages. The studio waxs Elite in Denver, Colorado.

Knee pants appeared fuing the mid-19th century. For most of the nearly century that lmee pants were worn, they were mostly worn by younger boys. This for whatever reason began to change in the 1890s. We have no ide why, but during the decade increasingly older teens began wearing knee pants. By the turn of the 20th century we see older teens wearing knee pants, mostly in urban areas. This included 16 years old and older, meaning high school boys. There was a social-class element here. Most older boys not in school with jobs wore long pants. Here with knee pants we are mostly talking about boys in high school. At the tirnj-of-the 20th-century this was a minority of boys. Most boys finishing elementary (primary) school began to work. It was primarily middle-class boys that continued their education on tom secondary schgoools. The percentage was, however, increasing as a result of ther phrnomenal growth of the American industrial economy. As the age increased, the number of boys wearing knee pantr declined, but boys wearingb knee oants at age 16 years was not uncommon. This continued after ther turn-of-the cenbturty in to the 1900s decade, but by 1910 the number older teen wearing knee aonrs or knickers had declned notably. By this timne the major style of pants in America had changed from knee pants to knickers.

Created: 7:38 PM 1/7/2022
Last updated: 7:38 PM 1/7/2022