Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Danbury Hat Co. 1968-1987
• Fairfield Processing Corp. Present (2015)
• John D. Stetson Co. 1946-1965
• Mallory Hat Co. 1919-1946

Use (Historic)

• Apparel & Accessories
• Consumer Products, Small Appliances
• Rubber & Chemicals
• Other: Plastics and Foam Products

Largest Documented Workforce

500+ (1927)

Historic Narrative

The origins of the E.A. Mallory and Sons Company date to 1823 when Ezra Mallory established his first hat-making shop near his farmhouse on Great Plain Road nearly two miles from the center of Danbury. Mallory’s early product was a beaver hat of the ‘stovepipe’ style popular during the period, however, felt hats made from rabbit fur would also eventually be produced in Mallory’s shop. These were initially sold by Mallory himself, who traveled between Danbury and the surrounding towns on horseback or took the stagecoach to Norwalk in order to bring his goods to the New York market. Ezra Mallory died in 1845, at which time his son, Ezra A. Mallory, assumed control of the business. Little had changed in the cottage industry by that time and all of the operations involved in hat making were done by hand. Things, however, were about to change with startling rapidity. Mallory moved his hat shop into a plant on West Street in downtown Danbury in 1854, and then erected an even larger mill on Rose Hill Avenue in 1861. The later move was largely necessitated by the increasing mechanization of hat-making processes. By the 1860s a variety of equipment, including felting, mixing, blowing machines had been implemented in order to speed up production, and during the 1850s Mallory’s was the first firm to introduce the use of sewing machines in the industry. In 1856, Mallory’s shop employed 95 hands turning out 8,640 dozen hats per year. In 1860, Mallory joined with P.A. Sutton to form E.A. Mallory and Company. In 1872, he brought his older son, Charles H. Mallory, into the business, and then in 1886 his younger son, William E. Mallory, joined the firm, thus forming E.A. Mallory and Sons. The company continued under this moniker until 1904, whereupon the firm was incorporated as the Mallory Hat Company, a title it would carry for 53 years. While E.A. Mallory and Sons was one of some 33 hat-making shops in Danbury in 1895, both consolidation and the challenges presented by this fashion-driven industry had reduced the number to just six by the early 1920s. The Mallory Hat Company was among the most stable and successful of Danbury’s hat shops and its sprawling Rose Hill Avenue plant employed hundreds of workers during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. One of the most notable additions to the Mallory plant was the construction of a new three-story reinforced concrete mill in 1919, and then its requisite expansion to six stories (the tallest in the city at the time) in 1923. The company’s finishing and office operations were moved into the new building, which cleared space elsewhere for the addition of modern machinery that was intended to help increase the quality of its fur and felt hats. The facility also housed a straw hat department, a new and profitable line of business for the firm. Although the American hat industry peaked around 1910, the Mallory Hat Company posted record sales during the 1920s. The Mallory Hat Company survived through World War II, however, the conflict had had a devastating impact on the industry. In 1946, the firm closed its doors and sold its Rose Hill Avenue plant to the John D. Stetson Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Production continued under Stetson until 1957 when the former Mallory finishing shop was closed, thus throwing 300 skilled hands out of work. The remainder of its Danbury operations were terminated and the entirety of the Mallory plant was shuttered eight years later. The mill was briefly reopened in 1968 by the Bieber-Goodman Company of Bethel, which operated as the Danbury Hat Company, a branch of Stetson that produced hat blanks, however, this work was moved to Missouri in 1987. With the exception of the portion of the plant erected in 1919 and 1923, the entirety of the former Mallory Hat Company complex was demolished by 2000.

Number of Existing Buildings

Two (2) primary blocks.

Dates of Construction

1919, 1923, ca. 1930, 1972.

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Loft
• Warehouse / Production Shed

Architectural Description

The former Mallory Hat Company plant is that last vestage of what was once a substantial complex flanking both sides of Rose Hill Avenue. The only suriviving building associated with the Mallory Hat Company consists of a single seven-story block built in 1919 and then enlarged in 1922. The three-story block on the west side of the complex was erected by a later occupant in 1972. The two adjoining blocks are located on the west side of Rose Hill Avenue immediately north of its intersection with Beaver and Rose Streets. The seven-story building is a reinforced concrete structure originally erected as a three-story, 60’ x 160’ mill in 1919. Between 1922 and 1923 this was extended 60’ to the west and the majority of the plant was raised to six stories (this with a total footprint of 60’ x 220’). Around 1930, the easternmost two bays were raised an additional story to a total height of seven floors. The entirety of the building is of reinforced concrete construction with large rectangular window openings, multi-pane metal sash with hopper-style openings, and a flat roof. Corbelled cornices extend across the original roofline at the third-floor level, as well as at the sixth floor. Small stair penthouses with pyramidal roofs are centered on the roof of the seventh-story block and at the center of the building. Small metal numerals centered in the façade’s (east elevation) cornice read ‘1919,’ while embossed lettering spanning the fourth floor above reads “1823 MALLORY HAT CO. 1923.” The building’s primary entrance is centered on the façade’s ground level. The three-story addition to the original building has an irregular footprint measuring roughly 140’ x 190’ overall. Used as a warehouse and shipping block, it is of steel-frame construction with a red and beige brick veneer and a flat roof. The building lacks window openings, however, there are multiple loading bays on both its north and west sides. The former complex property on the northeast side of Rose Hill Avenue was demolished in 1998, and received a $1.3 million DECD brownfield grant for remediation in 2017.

Exterior Material(s)

• Brick
• Concrete

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Structural Steel or Iron

Roof Form

• Flat

Roof Material

• Tar and Gravel

Power Source

• Electricity

Condition

Fair

Condition Notes

The complex is in fair condition. The buildings are well maintained despite the fact that a number of the windows of the original block have been replaced or boarded over.

Specific Location

One legal parcel (88 Rose Hill Avenue) totaling 4.53 acres located on the west side of Rose Hill Avenue immediately north of its intersection with Beaver and Rose Streets.

Adjacent To

• Railroad

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• H13/165. / Link →

Acreage

4.53

Use (Present)

• Industrial
• Other: Fairfield Processing Corp (organic fiber products)

Form Completed By

Lucas A. Karmazinas

Date

07/27/2015

Bibliography

1. List of Connecticut Manufacturers, 1922, 1924, 1930, 1932.
2. Directory of Connecticut State Manufacturers, 1936, 1939.
3. Industrial Directory of Connecticut, 1947.
4. Register of War Production Facilities in Connecticut, 1951.
5. Map of Fairfield County; Baker, William A., 1854.
6. Birdseye Map of Danbury, O.H. Bailey, 1875.
7. Birdseye Map of Danbury, L.R. Burleigh, 1884.
8. Sanborn Map Company, 1884, 1889, 1892, 1897, 1904, 1909, 1919, 1929, 1950.
9. Century of Hats & the Hats of the Century; Woolley, E.M, 1923.
10. Danbury; Danbury Museum & Historical Society, 2001.
11. Danbury’s Third Century; Devlin, William E. and Herbert F. Janick, Ph.D., 2013.
12. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).