Zadoc Benedict was a hat manufacturer who established the first hat factory on Main Street in

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

in 1780. It had 3 employees, and made 18 hats weekly. Legend holds that Benedict plugged a hole in his shoe with

rabbit fur Rabbit hair (also called rabbit fur, cony, coney, comb or lapin) is the fur of the common rabbit. It is most commonly used in the making of fur hats and coats, and is considered quite valuable today, although it was once a lower-priced commodit ...

, and found that over time the fur turned into felt. He then supposedly developed a process of making hats from the fur of locally available animals, like rabbit and

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

References

American milliners Year of birth missing Year of death missing 18th-century American businesspeople People from Danbury, Connecticut 18th-century American inventors Inventors from Connecticut {{US-business-bio-stub