The Men In Hats
Duncan Virostko, Museum Assistant
Celebrated Hats, Dunham Tavern Museum & Gardens
Today we often think of hats as fashion accessories, but in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, hats were also big business. As the fashion industry grew from an artisan craft in the nineteenth century into the wholesale department store business of the twentieth, a number of prominent businessmen made an impact on the Cleveland scene which is now recorded in the hats on display in our special exhibit, “Celebrated Hats.” The exhibit is closing after this Wednesday, so a new exhibit celebrating our bicentennial can take it’s place. So be sure to get one last look before the hats go back to various homes around the museum!
American Men’s Top Hat, “T.S. Paddock, Cleveland, O.”, ca. 1860.
This first hat is also the oldest in the exhibition, marked “T.S. Paddock, Cleveland, O.”, made about 1860. It is a men’s top hat, typical of the sort Rufus Dunham might have worn in his later years.
“T.S. Paddock-Cleveland, O.”
Thomas S. Paddock
Its maker was Thomas S. Paddock, an early Cleveland businessman who in the 1860s owned a hat and fur store at 221 Superior Avenue. His business was nicknamed “Old Reliable” and he served as a Captain of the Cleveland Grays during the Civil War. The Grays served as Co. E, the 1st Ohio Volunteer Infantry and 150th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in 1861 and 1863 respectively. He sold the business to Halle Bros. in 1891 and died that same year at age 76. Paddock was buried at Erie Street Cemetery with military honors including a pioneer's ax from the Grays as well as medals from the Masons and the GAR. His body was later moved to Woodland Cemetery and his grave was for many years unmarked until a new headstone was provided by the Veterans Administration in July 2016. He is honored at the Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument in downtown Cleveland with his name on Tablet #1, one of the 9,000 plus Civil War servicemen from Cuyahoga County so honored.
Many of the hats on display represent local outlets of more national stores, a reflection of the evolution of the fashion industry from a craft to industrial production, and sales from local suppliers to wholesale in department stores.
Robert Dunlap
Robert Dunlap’s company, from New York, made the finest top hats of the day. The advertisement on display from this company inspired the exhibit name, Celebrated Hats.
American Men’s Top Hat, “B.R. Baker”, ca. 1880.
“Trademark Dunlap & Co. NY; Reg. U.S. Pat. Office.; The B.R.Baker Co. Cleveland”
Bernard R. Baker
Interestingly, one of the three Dunlap top hats on display, circa 1880, is also marked “B.R. Baker, Cleveland.” The namesake of this local hat store, Bernard R. Baker, founded a Toledo, Ohio-based men’s fashion store, eventually opening a location in Cleveland at 1001 Euclid Avenue. Today this is the location of the Euclid Grand complex, of newly restored and renovated ex-storefront buildings.
American Men’s Top Hat, “J.L.Hudson”, ca 1895.
“Arbiter of Fashions; J. L. Hudson ~ Detroit, Cleveland, Toldeo, Buffalo, St. Paul, Grand Rapids, & St. Louis. Trade Mark ”
Joseph Lowthian Hudson
Another top hat, circa 1895, bears on its lining the ponderous legend “J.L. Hudson Co., Detroit, Cleveland, St. Paul, Grand Rapids & St. Louis.” This is the hat label of Joseph Lowthian Hudson, also of Hudson Cars, who founded a department store chain based in Detroit, Michigan. He acted as an agent for “Imperial Hats,” a hat company from New York, who probably made the hat. Hudson's department store had a Euclid Avenue location which closed in 1912 due to the death of J.L Hudson. His brother, James Hudson, was the manager of the Cleveland location.
These high fashion top hats would have been de rigueur for the upper crust of Millionaire’s Row and fashionable gentlemen like Dr. Stephens, owner of the Dunham Tavern after its reversion to a private residence. This reflects, to a degree, survivorship bias. High fashion, high quality hats were more likely to be well cared for and see less wear. More practical hats, like broad brimmed or bowler models, as well as caps, would have seen more everyday wear and tear, and as a result fewer survive. The exception to this rule is military headgear, which saw only brief if harsh use and was often a prized possession of veterans, sometimes worn long after the rest of their uniforms were no longer wearable. Additionally, these were mass produced, which increased their likelihood of survival. This pattern is broadly evident in the hats now on display at Dunham Tavern.
Hats were a major industry in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th century. Cleveland, already a center for the garment trade and other aspects of the fashion industry, played a major part as manufacturing and selling hats evolved from a local affair into retail business. Such enterprises often derived from colorful and charismatic founders, and their ambitions to carve a piece of the hat trade for themselves. Euclid Avenue as a major shopping district in early 20th century, played a big role in local hat sales. Dunham Tavern is fortunate to have a rich collection which is testament to those early men in hats, and their businesses in Cleveland.
Sources:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91241511/thomas-s-paddock
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/120743487/bernard-robert-baker
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/126377146/robert-dunlap
https://s16home.com/products/19th-century-beaver-skin-top-hat-original-leather-hat-box-c-1880
https://pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu/lets-go-shopping/chapter/clevelands-earliest-retail-traditions/
https://www.ohiocivilwarcentral.com/1st-regiment-ohio-volunteer-infantry-three-months-service/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lowthian_Hudson#/media/File:JLHudsonDetroit.jpg
