History > The Ranger Stetson

History of the Ranger Stetson

John B. Stetson, stiff brim, "Nutria" quality and Belgian Belly color: these are the original specifications that describe an item of apparel that has a proud heritage, the Ranger Stetson.

The story begins in 1858, when John B. Stetson started west, possibly to die of "consumption", which he had contracted working with his family in the hat trade. There are innumerable tales of dying men regaining their health when confronted with the challenge and healthy hard work of "winning the West". But, John B. Stetson returned to Philadelphia a healthy man in 1863 to reenter the hat trade.

During the summer of 1862, while sitting around a campfire near Pike's Peak, Stetson, who had been showing his fellow wanderers the felting process, decided to make a felt hat. Using the fur from jackrabbits, beavers, skunks, and any other fur-bearing animal he could find, Stetson made his first genuine Stetson hat. It was big and very peculiar looking but it protected Stetson from the wind, rain, and sun. Some of his companions admired it, but most of them considered the odd looking hat to be a perfect object for jokes and wisecracks. But, when a Mexican bullwhacker offered him a five-dollar gold piece for it the kidding came to an abrupt halt; at the same time the first sale of a genuine Stetson hat was made.

When Stetson returned to the hat trade in Philadelphia his first commercially successful hat was copied after the one he had made earlier around the Pike's Peak campfire. Called the "Boss of the Plains", it was a natural colored hat, with a four inch brim, four inch top, and a strap which served as a band. At first it was made of one grade of material and sold for five dollars. During the years the material grew finer and the cost increased until finally a thirty-dollar price tag was attached to pure beaver, or nutria hat. This "Boss of the Plains" Is truly the hat from which all of our modern Stetsons evolved.

The old Army campaign hat is thought by many to be the first ranger type hat worn by park rangers. Others believe that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Stetson, adopted in 1901, was the one that influenced the evolution of our present hat. In either case, through the years our Stetson has been at one time or another a "Boss of the Plains", modified "ten-gallon", a soft-brim Army campaign style, and finally, stiff-brim Park Ranger Stetson.

The original uniforms of the National Park Service, established in 1916, including the hat, were actually military type uniforms, adapted from those used during the period when the parks were administered by the military. In 1934 when the Stetson Company standardized the manufacturing of the Ranger Stetson, Park Rangers began wearing the stiff-brim, Belgian Belly color, named after the beautiful reddish buff, pastel like color of the underfur of the Belgian Hare.

Most California State Park Rangers wore the early soft-brim Stetson from the very birth of our system. At the first State Park Employees' Conference in 1938, a uniform study was requested. In 1939 the Uniform Committee recommended a State Park Uniform, consisting of Lincoln gray-green trousers and jacket, gray shirt, black tie, black leather goods, and the stiff-brim Stetson. Since this first official uniform everything but the Stetson has seen drastic change.

This hat has been called by many names, "Brush Cutter," "Lily Pad," "Smokey the Bear" and other more colorful but unprintable ones. It has been used for many purposes including protection from the wind, sun, rain and falling objects. It was also used to carry drinking water, to feed and water saddle and pack stock, to fan campfires, to shoo flies and mosquitoes, as a pillow and for many other useful purposes.

Call it what you may, but wear it proudly! This hat has become the symbol of an unusual group of men, men who have dedicated their lives to the protection and administration of our wilderness and natural resources. It is fitting that it be known by the name of a man who regained his health in the outdoors we all love so well.

It is an honor and a privilege to wear the Ranger Stetson.

Copied from an early Beaches and Parks Operations Manual

Also see the poem "The Hat" by Ranger Darren Cooke, on this website