Colchester Rubber Co. The brand known for being the world’s first Sneaker brand and inventing the “World’s First Basketball Sneakers”, circa 1892. The town of Colchester was a mere 50 miles from Springfield, Massachusetts where basketball was invented in December 1891 by Dr. James Naismith. Given his interest in sport, it is believed that Irving Watkinson was a basketball player early in the life of the sport. Whatever his link with the sport and Dr. Naismith, it is considered that Irving Watkinson designed a shoe specifically for use playing basketball. A surviving pair of basketball shoes was discovered in December 2004 at an
Dr. J.O. and Catherine Ball House Dr. J.O. and Catherine Ball House The Dr. J.O. and Catherine Ball House is a historic building located in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, United States. In 1892 this was one of three houses designed by George F. Barber's mail-order architectural firm that was being built in town, and it was the most elaborate of the three. The house is an enlargement of Barber's more expensive plans for design no. 33 from his 1891 book. The 2½-story frame Queen Anne features an irregular plan, a brick-faced limestone foundation, and an octagonal tower with an ogee shaped roof. The circular window on the