side view william s. hart the john b. stetson company founded by john b. stetson in 1865 was the maker of the stetson cowboy hats but ceased manufacturing in 1970 . 1 stetson hats are now being manufactured in garland texas by hatco inc. who also produce resistol and charlie 1 horse hats . 2 stetson resumed manufacturing in the 1980s but the company went bankrupt in 1986 . 3 the factory equipment and the license to manufacture stetson hats was purchased by hat brands a company owned by irving joel . history edit the john b. stetson company was established in philadelphia pennsylvania in 1865 when john b. stetson decided to mass produce a hat like one he had fashioned for himself out of necessity during a lengthy western expedition . stetson s boss of the plains with its high crown and wide flat brim became the prototype for all other cowboy hat designs . now located in st. joseph missouri the stetson hat factory there and its second factory in galveston texas continue to turn out the boss of the plains along with over 100 variations for men and women . 4 the stetson has become a symbol of western pride and bravado this hat with its large crown and wide brim has graced the heads of america s most treasured western heroes from old time favorites like actors john wayne clayton moore as the lone ranger and country singer gene autry to modern day popular artists like garth brooks and larry hagman as j.r. ewing on the television series dallas . 4 j.r. s hat is now displayed in the smithsonian national museum of american history s contemporary americana exhibit . furthermore the stetson hat has also been worn by prominent country singers from dale evans to trisha yearwood spurred on by legendary female maverick annie oakley proving that females can carry off this most essential western look too . 4 in 2006 when visiting the white house president of south sudan salva kiir received a black stetson as a gift from the then u.s. president george w. bush . he reportedly liked it so much that he purchased several . he now seldom makes public appearances without a black cowboy hat . 5 references edit snyder jeffrey b. 1997 stetson hats and the john b. stetson company 1865 1970 1997 pg57 isbn 0 7643 0211 6 snyder jeffrey b. 1997 stetson hats and the john b. stetson company 1865 1970 1997 p. 71 isbn 0 7643 0211 6 stetson hats . handbook of texas online . tshaonline.org . retrieved 2012 06 06 . a b c kristin palm stetson hat madehow website retrieved august 7 2007 . http foreignpolicy.com 2011 09 26 where did kiir get his ten gallon hat external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to john b. stetson company . stetson official website the hat of the west is born john b. stetson s hats retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title john b. stetson company & oldid 743597779 categories hat companiesmanufacturing companies based in philadelphiacompanies based in missourist . joseph missourieconomy of garland texas1865 establishments in pennsylvaniaclothing companies of the united statescompanies that have filed for bankruptcy in the united stateshidden categories commons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 10 01 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view