Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-29
SOME FACTS CONCERNING
THE HUMBLE BUTTON
Stories Showing the Origin Of Buttons Now Every Mar
Clothes, Which Apparently Have No Function.

phrase did not know that IT meant. In COM
mon parlance, lace up my Clothes" but
that is what 1t did mean, and the reason 1t
ceased to be used in actual conversation
resulted from the invention Of the button
and the passing away of the custom of fas-
tening the clothes by lacing.
1t is probable that when the first laced
garment was introduced the holes through
which the lacings passed were simply cut
or torn in the cloth, and little care was
taken to conceal their rough edges. 1t soon
became evident that the points" or lacing
holes were capable of ornamentation, how
ever. and as time passed and people be-
came more and more particular as to their
clothes the manner in which the points
were embelliShed was marvellous
Then came the invention OF the button
hole stitch called. Just when or by
whom this was invented is not known. Per-
haps l. is as well for that stitch is one of
the most difficult and tedious in the art Of
tailoring, and If the inventor were known
he probably would be burned in effigy like
Guy Fawkes the 9TH of November.
1t was not until after the invention of
the button-hole. which was not a button
hole at all. but lacing- hole, that some OF
the handles of Eliza beth's time imported
the notion of buttons from the far east.
They filed a ong-felt want and have been
in steady use ever since
In the United States the industry of but
ton making IS of comparatively recent
growth. Buttons have been made in Amer
lea since the middle of the eighteenth CEN
fury, but the American people were largely
dependent the supplies from the fac
tories in Europe until the work of manu-
featuring them in this country took a squirt
about quarter of IA century ago and since
that time it has progressed in leaps and
bounds until now the importations are COM
paratively small.
A mandatory for the making of brass
buttons was established at Birmingham,
England in 1859. and that city soon be-
came the center of the industry, remaining
so to this day. From that time buttons
have been divided into three general classes.
shank buttons, hole buttons and covered
buttons AS late as the beginning of the
nineteenth century covered buttons were
made by hand by covering wooden mold
or form with the desired materials. This
mode of manufacture was revoutioniZed
by b. Sanders, Dane, who emigrated to
Birmingham after having lost all his prop
erty by the bombardment of Copenhagen in
1907. Mr. Sanders conceived the idea of
making the button In two parts. son OF
Mr. Sanders made the seemingly trivial,
but, for practical purposes. very important
Improvement of substituting a canvas or
cloth tuft for the metal shank. Though
many improvements have been made in the
process of manufacturing covered buttons,
the principle of Mr.. Sanders invention has
not been superseded.
IT is stated that Casper Wistar manufac-
tured brass buttons in Philadelphia prior
to 1850. This is the earliest mention of but
ton manufacture in the United States. Soon
after that Henry Witeman set up the man.
ufacture OF metal buttons near the Fly
market in New York. Another pioneer was
Benjamin Randolph. at the Golden Eagle,
on Chestnut street, Philadelphia, who. to-
ward the end of the eighteenth century
m r. h,,t Of
holly and laurel wood, hard and clear" but
as late as 1897 there were only two button
factories in Philadelphia. The soldiers of
the revolution wore metal buttons of pre-
scribed patterns, but these Were imported
from France.
The first button factory in Waterbury,
Conn, now the center of the metal-button
! industry, of which there is any record, was
established just before 1900 by Henry SAM
uel and Silas Grilley. Their buttons were
made OF block tin or pewter and cast iron
molds. About 1900 great improvements
were made in Europe in the making and at
taching of shanks or eyes to metal buttons,
and in 1902 the firm of Abel Porter G. Co.
was organized for the manufacture of metal
buttons In Waterbury. Little progress was
made until 1890, when an Englshman.
James Croft, who had thorough know
ledge of the business. was employed. and
thereafter the development of the metal
button industry was comparatively rapid.
The manufacture of covered buttons by
HldtuileTy ildu hot Dceu attempted III the
United States until about 1927. Samuel Will
liston was the founder of the industry In
his home at Easthampton, Mass, he and
his wife commenced covering buttons by
hand. BY the gradual introduction OF ma
chinery the business grew, until about 1894
he associated with himself Joel and Josiah
Hayden of Haydenville with the object OF
improving the machines I'll.
Aaron Benedict started the first factory
for the making of ivory and horn buttons
in the United States in Waterbury, Conn.
about 1872. The raw material for the horn