Timeline of the evoluation of the walk-in closet 
1869: O.A. North of the New Britain, Connecticut receives a patent for a clothes hooks, an invention often linked to the early evolution of the clothes hanger.
1880: Construction begins on the Dakota, a lavish New York apartment building. A new idea and design selling point? Closets specifically designed for holding clothes. 
1900s: Sears and Roebuck home kits advertise bedrooms with roomy closets that are a few feet wide. 
1903: Albert J. Parkhouse, an employee of the Timberlake Wire and Novelty Company, creates a wire coat hanger out of necessity: a lack of coat hooks in his office. 
1950s: A post-World War 2 boom in the suburbs sees new houses built with closets big enough to walk into.
1978: A California teenager starts a business customizing closets, and a craze for organization is born.