History of Danbury Hat Industry
Danbury CT has a rich and dynamic history. One piece of its history is its Hat Industry. Once known as the “Hat Capital of the World” by historians, Danbury CT played a critical role in the Hat Industry for some two hundred years.
Danbury’s Hat History
Historians believe it all started with an entrepreneur of his day— Zadoc Benedict. The tale goes that he plugged a hole in his shoe with a beaver fur. Once he realized that sweat and friction could create a great felt.
After his discovery, Benedict started making felt fur hats via his bedpost. Not long after, he opened the first ever hat shop in Danbury CT on Main Street. While many others would follow in his footsteps, he was the original founder of the hat making industry in the city. He opened Danbury’s first hat manufacturing plant in 1780. Some 20 years later and Danbury had more hats than any other city in the United States.
Eventually, hatting became the city’s primary industry thanks to the near limitless supply of rabbits, beaver, and trees in Danbury. By 1820, the city had over 30 factories producing hats for the state and country.
100 years later and industrialization had changed the manufacturing game altogether, with Danbury’s hat factories producing over 5 million hats per year. The city became known as ‘Hat City’ which even led to the founding of a baseball team called the Danbury Hatters.
Meanwhile workers were taking the brunt of the labor, with many of them developing Danbury shakes and other symptoms from mercury poisoning such as drooling, shyness and irritability. In fact, it wasn’t until the Hatter’s Union pushed for the U.S. Public Health Service to investigate hatter’s disease that anything changed. At the time, tuberculous as well as hatter’s disease was a major cause for concern for factory workers because of the closed working conditions and consistent steam.
The union later, in 1901, went on strike against the Danbury hat making factory because of unsafe working conditions. The fight between the unions and the then most prominent hat making factory owner Dietrich Loewe, went all the way to the Supreme Court after Dietrich sued the union. He won his case and won $250,000 that the workers had to pay or else face losing their homes. They pulled together and paid off the suit, but the damage had been done to Dietrich’s company.
The Beginning of the End
However, as the economy declined, and labor relations became tense, the hat industry started going under anyways, and by the 1950s Danbury had only one remaining hat factory. Unfortunately, it took until 1941 for medical diagnoses to confirm that Hatter’s Disease was caused from mercury poisoning and for the switch to be made to Hydrochloric acid, a much safer chemical to use.
Despite its ups and downs, today Danbury holds tight to its legacy as the foremost hat making city in the world. Visitors can browse museums to see artifacts from the hat manufacturers and imagine what life was like as a worker during the 1800 and 1900s.
Danbury’s Hat History
Historians believe it all started with an entrepreneur of his day— Zadoc Benedict. The tale goes that he plugged a hole in his shoe with a beaver fur. Once he realized that sweat and friction could create a great felt.
After his discovery, Benedict started making felt fur hats via his bedpost. Not long after, he opened the first ever hat shop in Danbury CT on Main Street. While many others would follow in his footsteps, he was the original founder of the hat making industry in the city. He opened Danbury’s first hat manufacturing plant in 1780. Some 20 years later and Danbury had more hats than any other city in the United States.
Eventually, hatting became the city’s primary industry thanks to the near limitless supply of rabbits, beaver, and trees in Danbury. By 1820, the city had over 30 factories producing hats for the state and country.
100 years later and industrialization had changed the manufacturing game altogether, with Danbury’s hat factories producing over 5 million hats per year. The city became known as ‘Hat City’ which even led to the founding of a baseball team called the Danbury Hatters.
Meanwhile workers were taking the brunt of the labor, with many of them developing Danbury shakes and other symptoms from mercury poisoning such as drooling, shyness and irritability. In fact, it wasn’t until the Hatter’s Union pushed for the U.S. Public Health Service to investigate hatter’s disease that anything changed. At the time, tuberculous as well as hatter’s disease was a major cause for concern for factory workers because of the closed working conditions and consistent steam.
The union later, in 1901, went on strike against the Danbury hat making factory because of unsafe working conditions. The fight between the unions and the then most prominent hat making factory owner Dietrich Loewe, went all the way to the Supreme Court after Dietrich sued the union. He won his case and won $250,000 that the workers had to pay or else face losing their homes. They pulled together and paid off the suit, but the damage had been done to Dietrich’s company.
The Beginning of the End
However, as the economy declined, and labor relations became tense, the hat industry started going under anyways, and by the 1950s Danbury had only one remaining hat factory. Unfortunately, it took until 1941 for medical diagnoses to confirm that Hatter’s Disease was caused from mercury poisoning and for the switch to be made to Hydrochloric acid, a much safer chemical to use.
Despite its ups and downs, today Danbury holds tight to its legacy as the foremost hat making city in the world. Visitors can browse museums to see artifacts from the hat manufacturers and imagine what life was like as a worker during the 1800 and 1900s.