Kingsdown History It was 1904 when Kingsdown® began making mattresses by hand using then state-of-the-art materials such as corn husks and horsehair insulation. Almost 100 years later, these materials have evolved into space age technology. But one thing has not changed: Kingsdown mattress sets are still handcrafted, often by the descendants of those early pioneers who were the first Kingsdown employees. There are even some second and third generation employees working side-by-side in the factory