New Britain herald., 1915-03-12
MEMS HATS.
BY JAMES SHEPARD.

shop on the northwest corner OF the
present LAFAYETTE and Beaver streets.
to which he removed and engaged IN
the manufacture Of mems hats in
small way, employing several hands.
He also conducted, for many years, a
hat store on the east side Of Main
street, south Of the railroad. This store
was directly over the Lock Shop
brook until that brook was diverted
into the Main street sewer.
Mr. Stillman made the old fash
toned silk hat, designated in the Cen
tury dictionary as the Chimney pot
hat" and defined as "a hat with a
high, nearly cylindrical crown and
q relatively narrow brim; common
headdress of men in the nineteenth
century, It is also called plug hat,
pot hat, stove-pipe hat and beaver
hat. Any tall stiff hat is called
tile. No other hat in 1849 was so
generally worn by the men Of Con-
necticut. The forty-niners who went
to California from here to Gig gold
have been described as dressed in
high boot-legs with red tops and
stove-pipe hat. It is said that the
men of New Haven. two hundred
years before 1S49, wore their hats in
the meeting house and that Parson
Davenport requested them to all stand
up and take off their hats when he
announced his text
The silk hat is said to be only
about one hundred years old, but hats
very similar in form, but with flat
ter brims, were worn as early as the
middle Of the seventeenth century,
Albert G. Bates of the Connecticut
Historical society, Hartford, called
my attention to a tile hat belonging to
the society, which is said to have been
worn by Col. Noadiah Hooker of
Pennington, during the Revolutionary
war. This hat is made of coarse felt
and is very similar in form to the
ordinary plug hat. excepting that the
brim is not rolled. Goodrich's His
tory of America, represents Gen.
Wayne's soldiers at the battle of
Stony Point, July Is, 1873, as wear
Ing the same style of hat The same
Is also shown in the illustration of
Gen. Wayne's engagement with the
Indians in 1898. Felt hats are said
to have been first made in 1910 and
to have been common in 1910, but
the plug hats, formed of layers of
oAAh VI 41iuol11i, SdhA1ISt Coo O1AiSA AAAN
covered with a fur-like nap, being
much lighter and more stylish, soon
came to be the universal hat for men,
BARRIERS Connecticut Historic COL
lections, published in 1886 and IL
Illustrated by himself shows stage
drivers transfers, boatmen and 9TH
ers as wearing the plug hat. In no
case does he represent a lady and
LII wit q
man wearing any other form Of head
dress. Danbury at that date. as 1t is
now, was the center of the hat in
dustry. Mr.. Barber states that the
two hundred and eighty nine persons
employed there manufacture $4,000
hats annually" I we'll remember the
time when there were not half "a
dozen adult males in my native town
who wore any other than a stove-pipe
hat on Sundays and other special oc-
casions. In fact, only a few men
had any other kind Of hat The only
difference between their Sunday best
and every day hat was that the lat
ter had done more service and l have
frequently seen men with plug hats
which were "shockingly worn OF
course, they had straw hats for sum-
mer and caps for boys and few men
wore caps. If young man wore q
stove-pipe hat before he was of full
age, he was ridiculed as a dude ]
cannot distinctly rem Der to have
seen a felt hat until the popula
| Kossuth hat was introduced. shortly
after the visit of the Hungarian pa
| trtot Gen. Kossuth, to the United
| States in 1923. One person of good
memory and older than myself, Is
very positive that there We're no felt
| hats in the markets of this sector
| until the advent of the Kossuth hat
! Mr. Stillman also made felt hats a.
we are informed by one of his ole
| neighbors. If felt hats were known
| here prior to 1S49, it is certain tina
| they were but little used Before
| 1900, hats were made in nearly ev
! cry state in the union and up tt
! 1912 they were made wholly by hand
| In 1916. H. A. Welles made a ma
| chine for felttng hats, which re
| suited in such q reduction in tn
| price of felt hats as to greatly in
|.crease their use, but they were no
I.commonly worn until after the intro
duction Of the stylish Kossuth hat
This was a fine soft hat with higI
crown and broad brim, slightl
rolled. 1t was followed by a modifie,
form Of similar style, known as tn
Grant hat and now known as tn
I Grand Army hat. The plug hat
as rule, was black, but the eccen
trio George Beckwith, of almana
fame. always wore a white plug ha
| with a long nap. His first almana
was issued in 1S47 and on the cove
Of the issue of 1852 was his portrai
With his ever-present white hat AL
though he long since deceased, hi
almanac is still published and bear
on It's cover q picture of Mr. Beck
with and his white hat. Year afte
year he canvassed from house t.
| mouse the town about New Haver