Baltimore Hats Part 5

With Mr. Petticord's death, but two[1] are left of that n.o.ble band who so bravely protected our rights and fought for and firmly secured that liberty and freedom we of the present day are enjoying.

[1] This article was written in 1887, since when these two have pa.s.sed on.

MIDDLE OF THE CENTURY.

No. 11.

Baltimore hat-manufacturing interests at the middle of the century suffered greatly by comparison with those of an earlier period. That which had been a prominent industry, engaged in by active, enterprising men, and extending steadily and widely, keeping pace with the growth of the country, and giving encouragement to the continued employment of skilled labor, was at the middle of this century gradually falling off in volume and importance, and continued to decline until what was once a thriving and prosperous industry of the city, became one almost of insignificance.

In the government census of 1810, the statistics regarding hat manufacturing place Maryland as leading in the manufacture of fur hats. While Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania gained rapidly, still this business in Baltimore continued to increase and grow, until during the period from 1825 to 1850 it reached the height of its prosperity.

Before the year 1850 the once prominent concern of James c.o.x & Sons had retired from the hat-manufacturing business, and the oldest and wealthiest firm was contemplating liquidation, as Messrs. George and William Rogers, of the firm of Jacob Rogers & Sons, had decided to discontinue the business left by their father, choosing to follow other occupations. The retirement of these two firms, so long and closely identified with the mercantile and manufacturing industries of Baltimore, which had successfully contributed by their faithful business labors to its growth and prosperity, was a serious blow to the interests of the city. This change left in the field but one important firm who had been their contemporary--Cole, Craft & Co.--of which the late Wm. P. Cole was the active business partner. This firm followed in succession the business established in 1814 by Runyon Harris, and was the predecessor of the present firm of Brigham, Hopkins & Co.

Much speculation might be indulged in as to the real cause of the decline and loss to Baltimore of so important an industry, but the plain facts force but one conviction; namely, the unwillingness of these successful old manufacturers to adopt newer methods of hat making, leading to such reduction in cost, through improvements, as to preclude the chance of their successful compet.i.tion with those of more progressive ideas.

While Baltimore hat makers clung tenaciously to the old ways, whereby labor and expense were incurred unnecessarily, those at the North were readily adopting the various new methods by which improvements in the art of hat making were constantly being made; thus, with the use of newly invented machinery, the cost of making hats was greatly lessened, and the Northern manufacturer constantly gained in compet.i.tion with those of Baltimore.

The invention of the Wells _Forming Machine_ added largely to the misfortune of this business. An expensive machine, with a comparatively tremendous production, required a large market as an output; a heavy royalty also was attached to it, and the business of Baltimore at that time appeared not to be in condition to justify its introduction. Though the machine was invented in 1841, it was not until the year 1852 that the venture was made to introduce into Baltimore the Wells _Hat-body Forming Machine_. With the pecuniary a.s.sistance of Wm. P. Cole, Messrs. Bailey & Mead, in 1852, commenced hat forming by machinery, the "mill" being located on Holliday street, and afterwards removed to Front street (present number 320).

From failure of support, caused by inability to revive the depressed condition of the hat business, the venture of Messrs. Bailey & Mead was not successful, and Mr. Mead retiring from the firm, the business was continued by Messrs. Bailey, Craft & Co., mainly in the interest of Mr. Cole's factory, until about 1869, when hat forming by machinery in Baltimore was entirely abandoned, followed with the retirement of Mr. Cole from the manufacturing business.

Charles Towson, who established himself in the retail hat business in 1836, on Eutaw street, near Lexington, entered into partnership in 1853 with Mr. Mead, the firm being Towson & Mead; they commenced hat manufacturing at No. 10 Water street, in the factory formerly occupied by Jas. c.o.x & Sons. The business was carried on for about one year, when it was abandoned and the firm was dissolved. Other parties made fruitless attempts to restore to Baltimore the prestige it once held in this business. To one person, however, is due the credit of maintaining a long, persistent and n.o.ble fight against odds and difficulties, and who, after all chances to restore vitality to an apparently pulseless enterprise seemed lost, retired from the contest, unscarred and full of honors, after a creditable business career of forty-six years, carried on in the same factory where fifty-two years before he entered service as a boy. This person was Mr. Wm. P. Cole, who engaged in the manufacturing business in 1827, as a member of the firm of Clap, Cole & Co.

At the time of Mr. Cole's retirement from the manufacturing business he was a.s.sociated with his son, Wm. R. Cole, and his nephew, Wm. T.

Brigham, as the firm of Wm. R. Cole & Co., who were then engaged in the jobbing hat business and located at No. 30 Sharp street, now 24 Hopkins Place. In the year 1870 the firm was changed to Cole, Brigham & Co.; Mr. Cole retiring from active business only upon the dissolution of that firm in 1877, having been engaged in business on his own account more than half a century, leaving behind a record bright with faithfulness to duty, unspotted by any unmanly business transaction, brilliant in having met every business obligation; for, during the whole course of a long business life, he so systematically managed his affairs as to allow him to pa.s.s safely through the many perilous business periods he encountered.

As a manufacturer, Mr. Cole acquired a wide reputation for the cla.s.s of goods he produced, and when the demand was most exclusively for soft felt hats, those manufactured by him were considered the best made in the United States, and were sought by retailers far and near.

While at the outbreak of the Civil War there may have lingered a vital spark in the hat industry, that event gave it, apparently, a death thrust. The relative position of Baltimore to both sides was disastrous to its business interests; being close upon the dividing line of hostilities, the sympathies of a large part of its citizens were enlisted in the cause of the South, while, singularly enough, the larger proportion of the wealth and business interests of the city was centered in persons allied by family ties to those of the North, who earnestly upheld the cause of the Union. Cut off from all intercourse with the South--its legitimate field for business--the share of Western trade that was enjoyed by Baltimore was lost by the strategy of war, for with the partial destruction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad the channel of her Western trade was diverted, and it drifted in other directions. While dissension and strife were being stirred in Baltimore and her industries lying dormant, business at the North was being stimulated by State and Government calls for articles necessary to equip an army for service. Hats were a needful part of an army's equipment, and Northern hat manufacturers were called upon for the supply; their factories soon a.s.sumed the life and activity of prosperity, creating a demand for additional skilled labor with good pay; this induced the unemployed Baltimore hatter to migrate and seek other places for his support. Thus did Baltimore part with an industry of importance closely identified with its prosperous early days, which, after pa.s.sing through many vicissitudes, dwindled gradually until it became apparently extinct.

FASHIONS.

No. 12.

The high crown hat, vulgarly termed "stove-pipe," may be taken as the general indicator of fashions existing during the period of the present century. Following the "c.o.c.ked" hat (the counterpart of the French chapeau), which style prevailed at the time of the American Revolution, was the "steeple top," which had a conical crown. This shape for a high hat was soon abandoned and the bell crown subst.i.tuted, and so acceptable has this particular style proved that, since the opening of this century, it has held supremacy as the fashionable head-covering for man, despite frequent attempts to destroy its popularity by the introduction of other shapes, or the advocating of a change as practical.

High hats were first napped with beaver fur, which material, being expensive, necessarily made costly hats. Otter fur was afterwards used, then muskrat, which greatly lessened their cost.

"Scratch" or "brush" hats (terms used for hats made with a felt body and afterwards combed or scratched until a nap was raised) were manufactured and worn prior to the middle of the century. These were all stiffened high hats, and const.i.tuted the dressy article of headwear until the introduction of the silk hat, which for the last fifty years has maintained its ascendency as the leading article of fashion in gentlemen's hats.

About the year 1830 the beaver hat a.s.sumed huge proportions of crown, having a very heavy "bell," measuring full seven inches in height and nine inches across the tip; to this crown was added an insignificant brim of only one and a half inches in width. These hats were covered with a beaver nap of such a length that it waved with the wind, and its appearance upon the head of the wearer was as _outre_ and unique as the "shako" on the head of a modern drum-major.

To more forcibly ill.u.s.trate the proportions of this style of hat, we may say that its actual capacity was nearly a peck.

Besides the high hats of either beaver, brush or silk, caps made of cloth or fur were much used prior to the introduction of the soft felt hat, and continued to be so until an incident occurred which created a sudden revolution in the tastes of the American people regarding their head-dress.

The visit of Louis Kossuth, the eminent Hungarian patriot, to this country in the year 1851, had the effect of producing a wonderful change in the fashion of hats. The one worn by Kossuth was a high unstiffened black felt trimmed with a wide band, and was ornamented with an ostrich feather. The immense popularity of this famous foreigner with all Americans brought about the fashion of a similar hat. Never before or since in this country did the introduction of a new fashion in hats spread with such rapidity as did the "Kossuth."

All hat factories in the country were taxed to their utmost capacity to supply the demand, until every American citizen, old and young, was to be seen wearing a soft hat ornamented with an ostrich plume. It was the "Kossuth" that marked the era of the introduction of the soft or slouch hat, and stimulated the sale of that undress article of headwear, which continued in vogue throughout the United States for a number of years. The soft hat appeared in many forms and styles, some of which became universally popular. The "wide-awake," brought out during the election campaign of Abraham Lincoln, in the year 1860, was a noted and successful style. It was a low crown, white felt, with wide black band and binding.

Robert Bonner's original and successful advertising of his newspaper, the New York _Ledger_, was a sensation of the day, and the "Ledger"

was the name given to a soft hat that commanded a great sale. The peculiarity of the "Ledger" was a narrow leather band and leather binding.

The "resorte" brim was an American invention, introduced about the year 1863; it was simply a wire held to the edge of the brim of a soft hat with a binding, and so extended as to maintain a flatness, and permit its conforming to the head without destroying its outlines.

This invention was patented, and its extensive use brought large profits to the owners of the patent.

The event of the Civil War gave an increased stimulus to the use of the soft hat. With the South in a state of excitement, alarmed with portentous fears of a sectional war, such matters as pertained to elegance of dress were banished from the minds of its people, and the North, with a large army recruiting from its citizen cla.s.s, brought the universal practice of economy among the American people, limiting their indulgence in expenditures for articles of dress considered as luxuries, and the silk hat falling under that ban, dropped almost into absolute disuse. With the return, however, of prosperity, an apparent desire for a more dressy article was manifest, and the stiff felt hat generally denominated the Derby was introduced.

The derby was made in various proportions of crown and brim, as the caprice of fashion dictated, and was, as its name might imply, an adopted English style; it gradually grew in favor with Americans, until it became the universal fashion of the day, maintaining that position for several years. From an increased popularity it has been brought into such common use as to again create a growing desire for an article claiming something bearing a more exclusive mark of gentility or dignity, which the silk hat meets, and the silk hat is again so increasing in use as to establish the certainty of its maintaining with the American people its wonted place of priority as the article of genteel head-dress, marking the standard of fashion and style.

Baltimore, always noted for its readiness in accepting foreign fashions, must have been among the first of American cities to adopt the silk hat, which was claimed to be of French invention, but if there be any foundation for the following narrative, the first silk hat was not made in Paris, but in China. It is stated that a French sea-captain, while sailing on the coast of China, desiring to have his shabby napped beaver hat, which had been made in Paris, replaced by a new one, took it ash.o.r.e, probably to Calcutta or Canton, to see if he could procure one like it. As Parisian styles were not in vogue in China, he found nothing of closer resemblance than the lacquered papier-mache or bamboo straw. The keen shrewdness of the Chinaman, however, quickly suggested a near imitation in silk-plush. This is said to have happened in 1830, and the captain returning to Paris, showed the Chinaman's product to his own hatter, who, upon perceiving its beauty, at once attempted its introduction as a fashion, which has long ruled nearly the whole world.

The first silk hat produced in Baltimore is said to have been made by one Victor Sarata in 1838, though some contend that Jacob Rogers was the first to make such goods; but as the silk hat was looked upon as an innovation, and its introduction opposed by hat makers of that time, as being detrimental to their interests, it is more than probable that Mr. Rogers did not give encouragement to the manufacture of an article likely to supplant the use of his own make of "Beavers,"

"Russias" and "Bolivars," and we may thus safely give credit to Victor Sarata for first producing in Baltimore this new article of fashion, originating in Paris, the city from whence he came.

Until the year 1850, Paris fashions were those generally adopted in the leading American cities, after which English fashions in hats entirely superseded the former, becoming so popular that not only large importations of English hats were made, but American manufacturers invariably copied English styles, and indulged in the degrading habit of pirating English trade-marks, for the purpose of increasing their sales. Happily, the necessity for such pernicious practices is at an end, for during the past ten years the great strides made by American manufacturers in the improvements of hat making place them in the foremost rank of that industry; in fact, with those elements of manufacture necessary to perfection, such as fineness of texture, lightness in weight, and elegance in style, American hatters to-day hold supremacy in the whole world, and, favored by relief from the tariff tax upon raw materials from which hats are made, all of which is of foreign growth, America will be found sending to the countries which taught her the art, examples of this industry far superior to those her teachers ever furnished her.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE "DERBY" OF 1889.]

NEW DEVELOPMENTS.

No. 13.

A strange fact is that the Civil War, so disastrous in its effect upon the industries of Baltimore, was followed at its close by the rise of a new enterprise, of manufacturing straw hats, which so increased and extended that in number of establishments and volume of production it soon outrivalled those of fur hats in their most prosperous time, thus securing to this city a kindred business, greater in extent and importance than the one which had, by force of circ.u.mstances, been wrested from her. The good reputation which the products of the new industry has acquired in every part of the country has contributed not only to the prosperity of the city, but has a.s.sisted by adding credit for the high standard of its manufactured goods.

In the year 1866 Mr. G. O. Wilson and Mr. Albert Sumner left their homes in Foxboro, Ma.s.s., in search of a promising field for establishing the business of renovating straw hats. Without any definite place in view, one city after another was visited, Baltimore being finally their chosen locality. Messrs. Wilson & Sumner a.s.sociated with them Mr. W. C. Perry, who also came from Foxboro, and the firm was made Sumner & Perry, establishing themselves in the rear of No. 71, now 10 West Lexington street.

Mr. Sumner withdrawing from the firm the same year, the two remaining partners continued the business at the same place as the firm of Wilson & Perry. At that time the retail price of straw hats was such as to allow a profitable business to be done in renovating and altering styles, and in that branch these persons met with success.

Previous to this, however, others had been engaged in the business of bleaching and pressing straw hats. Among the first who entered into the business, as far as can be learned, was the firm of Rosenswig, Davidson & Ash, about the year 1848; they were cap manufacturers, and added the pressing of Leghorn hats as an auxiliary business. Mr.

Samuel White, who learned his trade of the previously mentioned firm, afterwards carried on hat bleaching and pressing in connection with cap making, at No. 78 South Charles street (present No. 132). From 1850 to 1865 extensive importations of German straw hats came into the port of Baltimore, and Mr. White did a large business in finishing these goods. In 1857 Mr. White commenced the jobbing hat business, forming in 1861 the firm of White, Rosenburg & Co., and is now in business at No. 9 South Howard street, of the firm of S. White & Son.

Richard Hill, at present in the retail hat business at No. 5 South Liberty street, was formerly engaged in hat bleaching and pressing at the same locality.

Messrs. Wilson & Perry continued to prosper in their enterprise, and, increasing their facilities, gradually developed it into straw goods manufacturing, confining their business for several years almost exclusively with two prominent Baltimore jobbing houses, who supplied sufficient patronage for their constantly increasing production; one of their patrons being Cole, Brigham & Co., the other Armstrong, Cator & Co., one of the largest millinery firms in the country.

In 1877 Messrs. Wilson & Perry purchased the premises No. 101 West Lexington street, now 104, where they secured more commodious quarters, and, with an admirably equipped factory, continued to do a large and prosperous business. Mr. Perry died in 1880. In July, 1887, the firm t.i.tle of Wilson & Perry was changed, Mr. Wilson a.s.sociating with M. Frank, J. D. Horner and A. Levering, formed the firm of Wilson, Frank & Horner, and occupied the warehouse No. 204 West Baltimore street, in connection with the factory on Lexington street.