Shirt Collars

Troy, New York, is nicknamed the “Collar City,” a label that originated in the long-term presence of the detachable collar industry that began in Troy in the 1820s. According to some documents, the Troy blacksmith Orlando Montague complained to his wife Hannah back in 1820 that he had no clean white shirts to wear in the evenings after work. Hannah felt the problem could be solved by merely cutting off the dirty collars and attaching a clean one. Thus was born the detachable collar. Other histories suggest that the Reverend Ebenezer Brown, a retired Troy preacher and dry-goods merchant, was the first to recognize the need for detachable linen collars, and in 1827 or 1829 began paying local women to make them, which he sold in boxes at his store.

Throughout most of the nineteenth century the collar industry relied on handwork to cut, stitch, and finish collars. Collar makers worked from their homes and the skill required for making collars was frequently passed down from one generation to the next so that a trained and proficient workforce lived in the Troy area, although some collar makers lived as far away as Vermont and western Massachusetts. Shirt cuffs were added in 1845.

In addition to collars and cuffs, an entire shirt industry grew up in Troy. Shirts, however, early in the nineteenth century, became a factory business with nearly all the factories being located in Troy’s urban center. In 1851 or 1852, Nathaniel Wheeler of the Wheeler [&] Wilson Company brought the first sewing machine to Troy and introduced it into the shirt factories.

Cluett, Peabody [&] Co., Inc., grew to be the largest shirt and collar business in Troy. The company formed in 1901 and acquired the older business of Maullin [&] Blanchard. Cluett, Peabody [&] Co., Inc., made Arrow shirts and operated factories throughout the United States. The company maintained a presence in Troy until about 1990.

Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence

Stephen Myers, the leading figure in the Underground Railroad movement in the Capital Region during the 1840s and 1850s, was an African American activist who fought for the abolition of slavery in the United States. He also assisted freedom seekers, those who had escaped enslavement, in pursuit of their freedom. As the principal agent for the Vigilance Committee of the Underground Railroad in the 1850s, he coordinated the efforts of local citizens to provide food, clothing, shelter, housing, and employment for freedom seekers making their way into Albany.The Vigilance committee assisted thousands in the course of its work.

In addition, Myers led the fight for the rights of African Americans in housing, education, employment, and voting through political lobbying, public speaking, and using newspapers to educate the public. The broadside exhibited here shows Stephen Myers as a committee member, arranging a convention in Albany in support of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. While Myers was well known for his journalistic work with several African American newspapers, The Northern Star and Freeman’s Advocate, published in Albany, was the most famous. His wife Harriet was also active in the work of helping freedom seekers and organizing local women to engage in Underground Railroad activities.

Stephen and Harriet lived in Albany’s Arbor Hill neighborhood in the 1850s,[nbsp] in what is known today as the Stephen and Harriet Myers Residence. The Residence is a documented Underground Railroad site that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service Network to Freedom, and the New York State Underground Railroad Freedom Trail.