John Batterson Stetson is the celebrated hat maker who invented the architypal "wild west" cowboy hat, the Stetson.

Born in the year 1830 in Orange, New Jersey (USA), Stetson heeded the call to go west in the 1860s. He had hoped that the change of climate would assist his poor health.

In the western states he met cowboys, lived the cowboy life for a while, and found his fortune in synthesising the prevaling protective head wear into the classic Stetson.

Stetson returned to the east, to Philadelphia to establish the John B. Stetson Company in the year 1885, which quickly became one of the largest hat manufacturing companies in the world.

Stetson was a major benefactor of De Land Univ. (at De Land, Florida) which was renamed the John B. Stetson University in the year 1899 in his honour.

John B. Stetson died in the year 1906, and his eponymous company continued to thrive after his passing. In the modern day, the Stetson Company manufactures a wide range of headwear, furnishings, sunglasses, and fragrances.

research sources include stetson.com & encyclopedia.com

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