Bar Stools

above from the book "Wicomico County and Delmar in Vintage Postcards" by John E Jacobs

Bar stools were not popular until the Prohibition era.  Before that men stood at the bar and drank (belly up to the bar) .  Ladies were expected to sit at the tables provided.  In some states this was law - no ladies at the bar.  In the above postcard of the Cozy cabin you will notice there are no bar stools at the bar.

above a bar (the Fashion Saloon) in Santa Barbara, Calif notice spittoon on floor and the stains around it where the men have missed hitting it, also no bar stools.

Enter the prohibition era where speakeasys existed and since they were illegal anyway laws about women at the bar were ignored.  In order to make it easy for the women, stools were provided at the bar for them to sit instead of stand and so bar stools became popular for men and women.

Liquor laws are strange and they vary town to town, county to county, and state to state.  In Delmar Delaware in the 1960s and 1970s  the bar stools had to be screwed to the floor so they could not be moved and if you wanted to move from a bar stool to a table a waitress had to carry your drink to the table for you as it was against the law for you to do so. 

2007 Mrs Mary Daley at the Sports Nuts Bar in Delmar Delaware and bar stools are provided but no spittoons.