The First Skateboard Made

The first skateboard made is impossible to pin down. People invent things all the time. How many of us went into the back yard and nailed contraptions togther out of junk we found.

I predict that there were thousands of people attaching wheels to boards all over the world.

When rollerskates became available I bet they got ripped off the boots they came with. Then nailed to all sorts of things.

The Myth

It is romantic to think that the first skateboards got made by bored surfers. They were the first to get into riding them with any real purpose. Almost certainly the first skateboard for sale came from from these surfers.

Even though the inventors of the world may have come up with the same ideas in many different places. The surfing style powered the transformation from a board with wheels. Into a "sidewalk surfer" or "skateboard". Which meant for surfing the sidewalks and streets.

The first production skateboard

Makaha designed the first professional boards in 1963(ref The Concrete Wave). If you are looking to mark the first real skateboard then that would be it.

This skateboard had a special deck, trucks and wheel made to skateboard. This was a big risk to take. Making all these parts for skateboarding would not be cheap. I tip my hat to those who took the risk and started something great.

It took almost 50 years of skateboard history for the technology to catch up. To make skateboarding what it is today. Innovations in tricks and equipment happened bit by bit. These pioneers who made the first production skateboard played a huge roll in that. Thanks!

To see how we got from rollerskates and 2x4's. To sidewalk surfers to modern street skating check out my skateboard history page.

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