Baltimore Hats, Past and Present. Brigham William Tufts
famous General Greene, of Rhode Island, on his way homeward from the war in the South, stopped in Baltimore and gave his impression of the city in 1783 as follows:
"Baltimore is a most thriving place. Trade nourishes, and the spirit of building exceeds belief. Not less than three hundred houses are put up in a year. Ground rents are little short of what they are in London. The inhabitants are all men of business."
The period from 1800-30, although interrupted by the war of 1812, when the city was made the immediate battle-ground, was marked by a wonderful growth in both commercial and industrial occupations, and, in common with the general prosperity of the place, hat-making also flourished. In 1810 Maryland is found, from the United States census reports, to have taken the lead in the production of fur hats. Aside from the custom with some retailers of making and finishing the hats they sold, we find in the year 1818 several firms engaged in the manufacture of hats. The products of these factories were distributed throughout the entire South, a section the natural resources of which enabled its people to easily recuperate from the war and quickly become large purchasers and consumers of goods which they did not themselves manufacture. In addition to this desirable field of business was the region of the "Far West," then comprising Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, the rapid increase of which in population by emigration greatly enlarged the demand for the products of Baltimore's hat industry. This being the most accessible seaport city, regular traffic by wagon trains was established, connecting Baltimore with the West, and giving to the former such superior advantages as to enable its enterprising merchants to secure a large trade, which they long and tenaciously held.
The city directories of that period were not, as now-a-days, issued annually, but at intervals of three or four years, and while furnishing much valuable information, cannot be relied upon for complete correctness, the main object of the compiler being to get the names of house-holders and business men, while many who were temporarily employed, and all who were unmarried though permanently employed, were omitted from registration. Thus the Directory of 1818 does not give a full list of hatters in this city at that time, for while it appears that there were in operation in Baltimore twenty-five hat establishments in the year 1818 (five or six of which were extensive manufactories), the Directory does not show any fair proportion of the number that then must have been engaged in the occupation of hat-making. It may be safely estimated from the extent and the activity of this branch of business at that time, that it gave employment to at least three hundred hands.
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