Tony’s Derby Hat

A 100+ year old hat sees the light of day

Oct 10, 2023

A few months ago I learned that in 1960 my great-grandfather Tony Corbo had carefully retired an old derby hat that he owned and put it away for his newest grandchild to have someday. When he boxed up the hat in 1960, he made note at the time it was “at least 50 years old.”

This excited me! If the hat was at least 50 years old in 1960, that would mean it was something he wore when he came to America in 1913!

Photo of Tony Corbo’s Derby Hat. Photographed by Little Saints Photography, LLC at the request of Pat Corbo-Hejhal. Did you know that Bowler hats and Derby hats are essentially the same? Derby is the American name for a Bowler.

My godmother had the hat professionally photographed and luckily, the photographer captured the underside of the hat with information that included the name of the maker. As it turns out the hat was probably not as old as Tony had guessed since it was purchased from Hubert W. White of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Hubert White was founded in 1916 as a haberdashery in downtown St Paul. Sadly, they closed in August of this year, which is unfortunate because had they remained, I would have taken the photos to the store to try to learn more about the hat and the time period in which it may have been purchased and what it may have cost.

What I have learned is that the store was stocked with hats and eventually clothing, catering to those with “exquisite taste.” By the condition of the hat when he boxed it nearly sixty years later (not to mention its condition today, over 100 years later), one can see that the quality is superior. Which tells me that the hat probably cost quite a bit.

The Minneapolis Journal. Minneapolis, MN. Thursday, Jan 6, 1916. Page 15.

Advertisements from department stores at the time had similar hats for $4. My guess is that the Hubert White hat cost more, but it’s hard to say how much more. Even at $4, that would be over $110 in today’s money; which maybe doesn’t seem like much, but to a poor immigrant, struggling to save money to send for his betrothed, it seems an extravagant purchase. That said, my assumption is that it was the purchase of a man who was very proud of what he had done with his life to that point and knew more was to come: he found the courage to leave everyone he knew for a better life and did so alone as a nineteen year old. He arrived in America, unable to speak, read or write English and made it all the way to Minnesota and secured a job working for the railroad. He made friends within his immigrant neighborhood, served in WW1, earning his naturalization and seven years after arriving, was able to reunite with the woman that would become his wife.

This was a hat worth so much more than the $4 he may have paid.

I haven’t had any luck finding photos of Tony wearing this hat, but I have found a few with him wearing a different hat. Interestingly, this photo is dated 1960 - the same year he boxed up his Derby! Maybe he thought it was time for an update.

Stories from the Tree

Discussion about this post