How Did Knickerbockers Become a Symbol of New York?

A pair of baggy, knee-length pants might not seem like the stuff of New York legend. But the term “knickerbockers” has been part of the city’s identity for more than two centuries, from Dutch settlers in old New Amsterdam to championship basketball courts.

But from Dutch settlers in old New Amsterdam to championship basketball courts, the term “knickerbockers” has been part of the city’s identity for more than two centuries.

Knickerbockers are loose trousers, rolled or gathered just below the knee, worn by Dutch settlers in 18th- and early 19th-century New York. 

Washington Irving helped popularize the word in 1809 with the publication of his satire, A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker. 

“Knickerbocker is one of the most familiar names in America,” The Wall Street Journal reported in 2000. “For nearly 200 years, the name has been appropriated… for its charm and distinctly New York connotations.”

The newspaper adds that the first “Knickerbocker” was an alias invented by 17th-century New Amsterdam settler Harmen Jansen Van Whye. His signature morphed to “Knickerbacker,” which Irving later tweaked to “Knickerbocker.”

“The baggy New Amsterdam knee pants depicted in the book's illustrations became known as ‘knickerbockers,’ a term eventually applied to women's underdrawers,” the Wall Street Journal reports. 

By the late 19th century, knickerbockers shifted from colonial practicality to everyday menswear, especially for sports. Their roomy cut made them ideal for cycling, golf and hiking. Emily Angus, in The Fashion Encyclopedia, notes that the style “allowed plenty of freedom of movement.”

Women tried them, too. A 1921 Women’s Wear Daily article reported the growing trend of knickerbocker suits, although women’s apparel retailers called the idea “an absurdity.” By the 1930s, long trousers came into vogue, pushing the knickerbocker trend aside.

By the 1830s, “Father Knickerbocker,” a symbolic figure dressed in a wig, three-cornered hat, buckled shoes and knickerbockers, became a New York mascot. A nearly 70-foot Father Knickerbocker balloon appeared in the 1936 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, while, according to The New York Times, the city’s first official Father Knickerbocker toured the world in 1949, drawing stares from Calcutta to Damascus. “In Damascus, Arab soldiery and Arab citizenry gaped at his snuff-brown Colonial jacket, his four-tiered jabots, his gold-buckled slippers and his tight knee breeches,” the newspaper reported.

The name spread widely. Knickerbocker Beer was a top-seller for New York's Jacob Ruppert & Company brewery. New York literary magazine The Knickerbocker debuted in 1833. The musical, Knickerbocker Holiday, loosely inspired by Irving’s story and set in 1647 New Amsterdam, ran on Broadway in 1938. And Cholly Knickerbocker and Suzy Knickerbocker were pseudonyms for long-running New York society columns with Cholly’s byline first appearing in 1891.

Sports teams embraced the term early. The Knickerbocker Boat Club launched in 1811. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright’s Manhattan baseball club became the New York Knickerbockers, one of the first organized baseball teams. 

A century later, in 1946, when New York received a Basketball Association of America franchise, founder Ned Irish literally pulled the name “Knickerbockers” from a hat. “We each put a name in the hat, and when we pulled them out, most of them said Knickerbockers, after Father Knickerbocker, the symbol of New York City,”  former Madison Square Garden executive Fred Podesta once said, according to NBA.com. “It was soon shortened to Knicks.”

The original Knicks logo, used until 1964, featured a smiling Father Knickerbocker dribbling a basketball, according to NBA.com. A modernized version resurfaced in 2014-15 for the Westchester Knicks, New York’s G League developmental team. 

Albany also got in on the act: the Knickerbocker Arena opened in 1990, hosting NBA exhibition games, WWF wrestling matches and more. It was renamed in 1997.