Over 60 years of tent-making history
Kirkham's has been manufacturing tents for over 60 years in Salt Lake City, Utah. Click on the photos below for larger images from the early days of Kirkham's Outdoor Products and the Springbar tent.
1944 – Jack Kirkham buys AAA Tent & Awning
The original store in downtown Salt Lake City.
An early Springbar tent
Jack Kirkham adjusts the pattern of an early internal frame Springbar model.
Kirkham's AAA moves to larger Salt Lake location
A photo of Jack outside his new store location on 5th South in Salt Lake City.
Historic Catalogs
Take a peek at the early days of Springbar tents with excerpts from these nostalgic catalogs.
1968 – Springbar modular tents introduced
In the late 1960s, Jack extended his successful Springbar tent design to his unique new expandable tent system.
Early days of beach camping at Lake Powell
A view of a well-equipped Springbar Camp at Lake Powell toward the end of the 1960s.
Camping in the High Uintas, 1972
A Springbar Leisure Port pitched over a picnic table at a Mirror Lake campsite.
Snowmobile camping in style
A grouping of Springbar modular tents set up in the snow.
It's warm inside, even in January!
Interior view of two Springbar 7199 Expandable Tents in a winter camp in the Uinta Mountains, January, 1975.
Springbar backpacking tents
A model 9155 nylon backpacking model waits out a storm in the Uinta Mountains, 1976.
How to camp in comfort
One of Jack Kirkham, Jr.'s recent designs – the Hexabode – on a product testing trip in Canyonlands National Park. April, 2000.