Recorder is very common now as part of music education in the U.S. :) [I love to see the growth in students but the first days are always difficult D: )
As Bengy stated, the recorder was used in many ensembles prior to the 1900s. King Henry and lots of elitist/monarchs owned dozens of hand crafted recorders. Other woodwind instruments were developed and preferred over the simplistic recorder. Now it's used in general music and can even be heard in sound tracks like Lord of The Rings.