The Origin and History of Self-Storage

self-storage

As with many modern day industries, self-storage emerged in the US in the 1950s. Lauderdale Storage in Fort Lauderdale, Florida had the first unit to be opened by the Collum family in 1958.

How it’s used

Many people use self-storage, whether it’s for keeping their clutter away from the home, storing of business items, or simply to help out when moving house. The thing is how did the idea of a storage unit come about? They must’ve used storage down throughout history, not unless people never had enough things to own! Interested in self-storage in Perth? Use the best and forget the rest. Let’s take a trip and a little look at what people used to store their stuff.

Early Origins

Going back to the prehistoric era, people have found imaginative methods to store their meat and vegetables, including the use of jars and spaces carved into the walls. But, the idea of storing your personal things is not so commonly seen in recorded history. There is proof from ancient China and Greece that detailed storage systems were created for personal possessions. In China, clay pots were filled with items and then stored underground in units. What makes the Chinese method so interesting and unique, is that this technique was used publicly as a storage system for personal items.

Greece

In Ancient Greece, the clearest evidence can be found in Delphi, where it seems that written documents, and perhaps, possessions from across Greece were stored – although it is not certain that actual possessions were stored, it is still of interest to see such a large filing system in place in such an early culture. So, from these ancient cultures, it can be seen that storage has always been something that was needed and was not really resolved until much later.

Egypt

The ancient Egyptians also used chests for storing personal items, such as clothing and jewellery. Their communal storage design was laid out in a manner that is not dissimilar to today, although it was mostly used for food and wine instead of old computers, TVs, tables and old furniture!

Britain

British aristocracy also created something similar several centuries ago. With travel becoming increasingly popular among the rich, who needed a place to store their personal and more valuable possessions (due to the threat of highway robbery) and so they began to make use of banks to store their personal possessions, not just their money. The banks would rent units on behalf of clients for the safe storage of their items. If in W. Australia, Perth Metro Storage is a professional, reliable and affordable self-storage company, who can cater for your every need. Check them out!

The Roots of Modern Self-Storage

Beginning in the 1850’s in America, when a fellow by the name of Martin Bekin created buildings for storage to suit the needs of immigrants. With not much space in homes, storage was necessary and he provided.

Modern Times

As mentioned above, the storage unit we are using today goes back to 1958 in America. The idea was extremely popular and we’ve never looked back since then.