Figure 1.--Here a boy 5-6 year old wearing a romper suit is watching other boys play. We would guess his older brother is one of the older boys. The boys here are playing basketball (sort of) at the Carnegie Playground on 5th Avenue in New York City. The source dates the image at 1900-15. This seems correct. Note that none of the boys have sneakers. Source: Library of Congress.

Rompers were also made in larger sizes durig te early 20th century, normally to age 6 years. These were the common sizes in the 1920s. HBC is unsure about earlier sizes, but they probably were about the same. I am not sure how commonly 6 year olds wore them. We know they were made in sizes up to ae 6 years because of availble catalog offrings with size details in the ad copy. This of course was a major milestone age as children began school at age 6 years. HBC has noted that in the photographic record that it was more commonly younger boys. Most of our images of boys, especially the older boys, wearing rompers were taken around the home. This probably reflects where most snap shots were taken. We do note a few imges of 5-6 year olds wearing rompers away from hime, but they are not very common.