Inspiration from an old hat

This hat was passed down to my dad, who passed it down to me. It was bought by my great grandfather Scott Keller in the 1940’s. I’ve taken to wearing it recently. It gives me perspective. Scott P Keller was born in 1903. He was too young to fight in WWI so at the age of 15 he dropped out of school to fill a need and work at the local steel mill. He then survived the Spanish Flu and went on to get married and have twin boys just in time for The Great Depression to hit. He had to move his family across the state where he could get a job as an iron worker walking high steel at high rise construction sites. Then WWII started, but he was now too old to fight, as a result he was offered a contract to play 3rd base for the Chicago Cubs but turned it down to go work iron again because it paid more at the time. He ended up back north of Cincinnati and retired from Armco Steel as a superintendent in the late 60’s. I never really knew him, but they tell me he cussed like a sailor, was generous as a saint and loved to eat limburger cheese and onions sandwiches on the dock of his lake house in Kentucky. He passed away in the 90’s.

This hat was purchased at C. E. Greathouse & Sons mens clothing store in Middletown, Ohio sometime in the early 1950’s. I imagine one fine day Scott P Keller drove himself downtown to celebrate something by buying a brand new Dobbs Fifteen hat from the local mens clothing & hat shop. Greathouse opened up shop in 1885. Later, in 1917, his son who was running the business at the time, expanded and moved to a bigger location just next door. Generation after generation of Greathouse's ran that store all the way until closing in 1982.

This hat was made by the Dobbs & Co on 5th avenue in NYC. The Dobbs brand was a business model innovation by the Crofut & Knapp company. C&K was founded in 1858 and was an entrenched NYC hat manufacturer who innovated not only the designs of mens hats, but the business model as well. The Dobbs & Co brand was spun off in 1908 as a direct to consumer play without any of the political or union baggage of C&K. In addition to standing up their own storefronts, Dobbs cut out the distribution middle men going straight to local retailers as well. They also slimmed down the hat line they offered to only 3 or 4 styles with yearly tweaks to create the latest model of a consistent style. Dobbs is still in operation today.

Scott P Keller, Greathouse’s and Dobbs & Co survived WWI, the Spanish Flu, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and about 15 recessions including the Great Depression. We will survive the novel coronavirus. Right now it may or may not seem like a big deal to you. In a month or two I wager this may be more meaningful. This will be the first time my generation will all go through a season that takes someone we have a connection with. Whole industries will flip upside down. Jobs and fortunes will be lost. It will be a chapter in our stories, like those before us, possibly longer than we want, but still just a chapter. Dig deep, finding meaning and purpose beyond the comfortable lifestyle and business as usual we will temporarily lose. Read, write, create, discover, research, dream, innovate and hope. Change direction or bear down with more resolve. But above all, do not lose heart. By all means, lose pretense, lose posturing, lose needless consumption, lose meaningless rivalries, lose inauthenticity, lose some money and lose some sleep…but do not lose heart.