Boss of The Plains
In 1865 — "a time when almost everyone wore hats" — Stetson moved to Philadelphia to enter the hat-making craft he'd learned from his father and began manufacturing hats there suited to the needs of the Westerners. Stetson made a western hat for each hat dealer in the Boss of the Plains style he had invented, during the trek to Pike’s Peak. These lightweight hats were natural in color with four inch crowns and brims; a plain strap was used for the band.
Noted one observer, "It kept the sun out of your eyes and off your neck. It was an umbrella. It gave you a bucket (the crown) to water your horse and a cup (the brim) to water yourself. It made a hell of a fan, which you need sometimes for a fire but more often to shunt cows this direction or that." Before the invention of the cowboy hat (which means before John B. Stetson came along), the cowpunchers of the plains wore castoffs of previous lives and vocations. Thanks to the time he spent with cowboys and Western settlers, he knew firsthand that they wore impractical headwear, such as coonskin caps, sea captain hats, straw hats and wool derbies.
John decided to offer people something better. Durable and well-made from waterproof felt, its high, open crown and broad rim would keep the hot sun off their faces, necks and shoulders.
The hat achieved instant popularity and was named the “Boss of the Plains.” The first real cowboy hat. Stetson went on to build the Carlsbad, easily identified by its main crease down the front.
His hat was called a Stetson, because he had his name John B. Stetson Company embossed in gold in every hatband. The Stetson soon became the most well known hat in the West. All the high crowned, wide brimmed, soft felt western hats that followed are intimately associated with the cowboy image created by Stetson.
The Stetson Cowboy hat was the symbol of the highest quality. Western icons such as Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, Will Rogers, Annie Oakley, Pawnee Bill, Tom Mix, and the Lone Ranger wore Stetsons. The company also made hats for law enforcement departments, such as the Texas Rangers. Stetson's Western-style hats were worn by employees of the National Park Service, U.S. Cavalry soldiers, and many U.S. Presidents.
The cowboy hat is truly an example of form following function. "Invented by John B. Stetson," today’s cowboy hat has remained basically unchanged in construction and design since the first one created in 1865. In addition to the cowboy hats, Stetson also made fedoras, and women's hats.
Read more about this topic: John Batterson Stetson
Famous quotes containing the words boss and/or plains:
“I have given my pain a name and call it “dog”Mit is every bit as faithful, every bit as nosey and shameless, every bit as entertaining, every bit as clever as any other dog—and I can boss it around and vent my bad moods on it, just as others do with their dogs, servants, and wives.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The westward march has stopped, upon the final plains of the Pacific; and now the plot thickens ... with the change, the pause, the settlement, our people draw into closer groups, stand face to face, to know each other and be known.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)