William Tufts Brigham

“ The wheat of the eastern part of Canada produces a straw dark in color, harsh in texture, and of little use for making a hat, while that grown in the western part of the same country is clear and white in color, possessing a brilliant enamel which imparts the beauty that rendered the Mackinaw so famous as an article of fashion. ”

“ 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 class, 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. ”

“ TO one man more than any other belongs the credit of establishing upon an extensive scale the hat business, which in the early part of the present century was so prominently identified with the growth and prosperity of Baltimore; that person was Jacob Rogers, whose business career in his native city extended over a period of more than fifty years, fortified by a reputation that brought the universal respect of his fellow-citizens, and leaving a worthy example for those succeeding him. ”

“ 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 circumstances, been wrested from her. ”

“ THE spirit of ambition and independence constituting the fundamental principles of manhood, and inspiring a nobleness of character which in time of the country's struggle for liberty helped to give her the benefits of wise counsel, noble patriotism and manly service, was early manifested by the neighboring colony of Virginia, as in the year 1662 she ventured upon a practical plan to encourage the manufacture of hats by offering a premium of ten pounds of tobacco for every domestic hat made of fur or wool. ”

“ A business coming from one of its pioneers through a direct succession of firms gives to Brigham, Hopkins & Co. a natural pride in such an inheritance, and brings also a pleasure in being able to trace its progress from its origin, showing how this branch of manufacture was at an early day brought to an admirable condition of prosperity, afterwards to pass through a period of almost total decay, then again to attain a development that entitles it to rank with any of the successful and prominent industries of the city. ”

“ Very striking features are the immense arched openings upon the Paca street façade, being seventeen feet in width and twenty-five feet in height, which with their broad treatment of mullioned panels and heavy rough-hewn stonework, give strength and character to the building. These spacious windows are not simply for effect, but designate the location of the principal offices, and by their wide expanse afford abundance of light to the show-rooms, making these departments particularly attractive by the cheerful airiness and brightness that plenty of sunlight always brings. ”

“ What would be the exclamation of the ghosts of our great-grandfathers who, with the rapid trot of an ox-team, drove to church miles away through the storms of winter to exemplify their devotion to the truth of their faith, if suddenly they could rise and observe the luxury of the present modes of transportation in convenient palace cars and palatial steamships, our comfortable and gaudy churches, and our easy ways of communicating instantly with those thousands of miles away from us? ”

“ 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. ”

“ When we think of the largest number of stitches our mothers and sisters could take in their needlework by hand and contrast it with the result of the sewing-machine that spins its twenty-two hundred stitches a minute, we are able to gain some adequate idea of the saving of labor, and while we complacently accept these marvellous accomplishments, the question whether it be to the poor and needy a loss or gain is still an undecided problem. ”

“ JUST as the first half of the present century was expiring, an invention was made that at once revolutionized the whole system of hat-making. A machine was patented in the United States by H. A. Wells, in the year 1846, which successfully accomplished the work of making or forming a hat in a very short space of time, which heretofore had required the slow, tedious and skillful labor of the hands, thus so equally dividing the century that the first half may be practically considered as following the old method, and the latter half as using the new method. ”

“ American manufacturers had a long and tedious struggle in their efforts to overcome the prejudices of the people existing in favor of foreign productions, but steady endeavors to win the approval of Americans for American made hats have scored a genuine success, and the American gentleman of to-day may take a just pride in wearing a straw hat of Baltimore make—one not to be excelled. ”

“ With the bowing of the fur, the forming and shrinking of the bodies, and the handwork of finishing and trimming, all of which by the aid of modern science and invention is to-day done by machinery more perfectly and completely at the rate in production of twenty times that of fifty years ago, while the sewing of a straw hat, which could hardly be done in an hour by the plodding work of the hand, stitch by stitch, is, by the rapid sewing-machine, made in a minute. ”

“ Machines for sewing the straw braid were not then in use, and much of the straw products of foreign countries came ready sewed in shapes that were very irregular in proportions and sizes. The looseness of the stitches in sewing rendered the use of glue a necessity in the manufacture of the hats, producing an article of headwear that gave but little comfort. Suggestions for improvements were given the manufacturers, who adopted them with advantage to themselves. The first suggestion made by the Baltimore firm was an improvement in the appearance of the hat by trimming it with wider bands. ”

“ Thus an advantage was gained in supplying a hand-sewed hat, embodying such points of perfection in style and finish as to quite surprise those not familiar with the manufacture of such goods. The "Mackinaw" of Baltimore make continued to grow in popular favor until it had secured a greater distribution than was ever before attained by any other article of straw hat, making a remarkable record for tenacity, by holding for upwards of fifteen successive years, popularity as the leading article of summer headwear. ”

“ 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 competition with those of Baltimore. ”

“ Let us enter a Baltimore hat "shop" of fifty years ago and watch the making of a single hat. Fur and wool constitute the main ingredients of which hats have always been made, because possessing those qualities necessary for the process of "felting," the finer and better class of hats being made of the furs of such animals as the beaver, bear, marten, minx, hare and rabbit. ”

“ At the present time there are in Baltimore, apparently in prosperous condition, eight straw hat establishments, giving employment to eleven hundred hands, male and female, and producing annually, manufactured goods to the value of upwards of a million dollars, in the distribution of which Baltimore is brought into close business contact with every State and Territory of the Union, and the city's importance as a manufacturing centre is enhanced by the character of articles sent forth by those engaged in this class of business. ”

“ Rogers was a strict disciplinarian and an excellent business man is proven by the perfect control he exercised over the large number in his employ, whom he ruled with a firm hand yet with a wise judgment, and while rebuking any disobedience of orders, was feared, respected and loved for his strict sense of honor, justice and propriety. ”

“ Women are employed, therefore, after the hats have left the "finishers,"74 in picking out with small tweezers such defective fibers as may present themselves on the surface of the hats.
Lastly, the hat is placed in the hands of a workman whose employment requires an accurate eye and a fertile taste in matters of shape and form: this is the "shaper." He has to study the style and fashion of the day, as well as the wishes of individual purchasers, by giving to the brim of the hat such curvatures in various directions as may be needed. ”

“ The line of successors to Runyon Harris have all been found proverbially enterprising and energetic, always noted as active and successful manufacturers of their day. Inheriting somewhat the spirit of activity so marked in their worthy predecessors, Messrs. Brigham, Hopkins & Co. are found in the advance, and make no idle boast of an establishment whose breadth of space, architectural beauty, and convenience of arrangement find few rivals in the whole catalogue of similar business places in this country. ”

“ The carpeted floor and tasty furniture serve to give that comfort that is looked for in the modern office of the business man. Beyond and leading from this office are show-rooms for the exhibition of the firm's products. These show-rooms, two in number, are without doubt the best in finish, breadth of space and arrangement of any in this branch of business in the United States, affording the best conveniences for the display of the handsome goods they contain ”

“ It is a pleasant reflection as well as a happy coincidence that the restoration of a forsaken industry, once a vital element in the city's life and activity, is greatly due to the labors of the firm who, in this branch, connect the past with the present, the old with the new. ”

“ In the earliest days of straw hat making in Baltimore, at the time when the Mackinaw was being introduced, the sewing of straw hats by machine was a new invention, and practically a close monopoly controlled by a strong combination of wealthy straw goods manufacturers of the North, who, jointly as a stock company, prevented the sale of the straw sewing machines outside their own circle. ”