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The game before us

From frozen ponds to a worldwide sport

The stones changed. The places changed. People kept coming back to play.

Curling grew from winter games on Scottish ice into an international sport. Surviving objects, written records and club histories help us follow its journey. Here are a few places to begin.

History has uncertainties. An old date on a stone is a clue, not proof of the day a sport was invented. We distinguish what a source records from what remains uncertain.
Curlers playing on frozen ice in New York’s Central Park, circa 1900–1906.
Curling in Central Park, New York, 1900–1906. Photo by Byron. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection. View the original record. From the Library’s Free to Use and Reuse collection; no known restrictions on publication.

A short timeline

Ten steps through curling history

  1. 1500s

    Clues from Scottish ice

    A Paisley record dated 1540/1541 describes a contest with stones on ice. A surviving stone bears “1511,” but that inscription may have been added later. Curling’s exact starting date is uncertain.

    Source: National Records of Scotland →
  2. 1807

    Montreal forms a curling club

    The Montreal Curling Club was founded in 1807. Early members used iron curling “stones.” It continues today as the Royal Montreal Curling Club.

    Source: Royal Montreal Curling Club →
  3. 1838

    A shared game takes shape

    The Grand Caledonian Curling Club formed in Edinburgh to regulate the game. Its rules adopted four players on each team, each delivering two stones.

    Source: Scottish Curling →
  4. 1867

    American clubs build a network

    The Grand National Curling Club was established in 1867. It served as the United States’ national governing body until 1958.

    Source: Grand National Curling Club →
  5. 1924

    Curling at Chamonix

    Great Britain’s men won at the first Winter Olympics. The IOC confirmed in 2006 that this competition counted as curling’s Olympic medal debut.

    Source: World Curling →
  6. 1959

    The Scotch Cup begins

    Scotland and Canada started the Scotch Cup between their national men’s champions. It became the opening chapter of the men’s world championship record.

    Source: World Curling →
  7. 1979

    Women compete for a world title

    Perth, Scotland, hosted the first women’s world championship. Switzerland, skipped by Gaby Casanova, won.

    Source: World Curling official results →
  8. 1998

    A new Olympic chapter

    Men’s and women’s curling joined the Nagano Olympic medal programme, with eight teams in each event.

    Source: World Curling →
  9. 2002–2006

    Wheelchair curling reaches a world stage

    The first World Wheelchair Curling Championship was held in 2002. The sport made its Paralympic debut at Torino 2006.

    Source: International Paralympic Committee →
  10. 2018

    Two players, a new Olympic event

    Mixed doubles made its Olympic debut at PyeongChang. Its first world championship had taken place in Finland in 2008.

    Source: World Curling →

Beyond the dates

Three stories worth telling

The stone with a question mark

The Stirling Smith museum holds a dark stone with handholds and “1511” carved into its side. It looks very different from today’s handled rocks.

The museum identifies it as the world’s oldest curling stone. National Records of Scotland cautions that the date may have been engraved later. The object survives; part of its story remains a mystery.

See the museum’s stone →

Read the archival caution →

When the stones were iron

Early Canadian curlers did not always use granite. Montreal players used iron implements shaped rather like large kettles.

Curling Canada records examples weighing 60–80 pounds for men and 40–48 pounds for women. Iron stones remained in use around Montreal and the Ottawa Valley into the mid-twentieth century.

These older tools show how much equipment could vary from place to place.

Source: Curling Canada →

American women built their own network

During inter-club curling in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, in 1946, players proposed a national women’s association.

Representatives of five clubs adopted a constitution in October 1947, founding the United States Women’s Curling Association. Its first National Bonspiel followed in 1949. It also organized the first U.S. Women’s Championship in 1977.

Women creating opportunities to play are an important part of American curling’s story.

Source: USWCA →

The story continues at the club

Old photographs, pins, programmes and club records connect today’s curlers with the people who played before them. The timeline above is a starting point, not every milestone in the game.

Explore curling club culture

Historical sources checked October 2026. Source links appear beside each entry. HouseCall is an independent educational resource.

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