This may seem like a stretch for some people but have you ever considered that you owe your current employee benefits to John B Stetson and the Stetson Hat Company of a hundred years ago?

According to the book “Stetson Hats and the John B. Stetson Company, 1865-1970”:

“He (John B. Stetson) took a paternalistic interest in the welfare of his employees, initiating a variety of company services from health care, education, and recreation, to banking, housing and religious services. Stetson was motivated by deep Baptist religious convictions, a strong philanthropic conscience, and a certainty that satisfied workers would be more productive. Employee benefits reduced labor turnover, attracted a higher caliber work force, and therefore increased the company’s profits.”

and

“As the years passed, new services and programs continued to be added by Stetson. One of the most significant was the Union Mission Hospital, founded in 1887. Built next to the factory at 1745 North 4^th Street, this facility was built in part because of Stetson’s own preoccupation with health and from his habit of referring sick employees to his own personal physician.”

These are just a couple of examples of today’s “employee benefits” initiated by John B. Stetson in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Over the next few days we’ll explore what other benefits Mr. Stetson bestowed upon his employees.

‘Til next time, keep your chin up and your hat on.

Aaron

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 8:39 pm and is filed under Fedoras, Hat History, Hats, Men's Hats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.