The Hats of Danbury - An Early American History Of Fur Hats

Fashion, and especially hats as a part of fashion, makes an entertaining study in most cultures. In Central Ohio, we have a Hat Day and the ladies that wear large and entertaining hats converge on a hotel conference center in the hub of Downtown Columbus in order to meet, compare hats and notes, see a fashion show, and have a good time,

They also feel fancy and sophisticated and they are just that. The Black churches in America are famous for ladies' hats and I love to look at and admire them. The US has had at least one legislator in Washington DC who historically wore such a hat every day in session and we have one currently that has asked the no-hats rule in the House of Representatives be waived so that she may wear hers. It is a part of her own American culture just as much as an attractive head scarf is to my Muslim friends at work, in worship, and even during sports participation.

Hats were a way of life in Danbury, Connecticut from the Revolutionary War to the 1960s, especially in 1961, when President-Elect John F. Kennedy decided not to wear his Presidential silk top hat during his inauguration.

Beginning in August 2010, the private Danbury Museum began to hold an 18th Century Hat Day in which visitors could learn about the culture and history of Danbury and what made it to be known as Hat City. A number of re-enactors were employed in this project, which drew many attendees and good reports. Watch the museum link below during the Summer of 2011 and thereafter in order to learn for future celebrations of Danbury hats.

The first hatmaker recorded in Danbury was Zadoc Benedict. His was the Dodd Hat Company, which produced three hats a day, by hand, from 1780 in the Revolutionary War Era, forward.

In 1787, Oliver Burr & Co. brought over a genuine English hatter, whom they put to work training a number of hatmaking apprentices. When they became journeymen hatters, they opend many shops of their own in the 1800s Danbury was the hub of 50 men's hat shops. They made men's beaver-fur top hats, men's derbies, and men's silk high hats.

By 1887, Danbury produced over 5,000,000 yearly hats (men's hats) and obtained the moniker Hat City. Hats of Danbury were usually stiff fur-containing derbies. By 1900, softer hats were wanted on the fashion scene and the stiff Danbury hat became passe after WWII whenmen began to eschew hats altogether. See the links above for more information.