Hamilton Shirts
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Edward Joseph Hamilton arrived in Houston in 1883 at the age of 21 and promptly founded a menswear business, Hamilton & Scurry, which became Hamilton & Mason by 1886 and Hamilton Bros. by 1887. Originally offering "hats, caps, and gents furnishing goods," the business grew to include custom-made shirts, which remain the core of the company's business. From day one, the business defined itself by the exacting quality of its products, as well as an emphasis on family. By 1910, five of Edward's six younger brothers, James Brooke, William, George, Bernard, and Arthur, were co-owners of Hamilton Bros. Since 1883, the Hamilton family has continuously operated the company in Houston, channeling four generations of expertise to help clients around the country achieve their signature style through sartorial guidance and expert detailing. For its first 66 years, Hamilton Bros. was located in the Rice Hotel block, on Main Street between Prairie and Texas. The second generation of owners moved the Hamilton Shirt Company to three separate Main Street locations, each farther from the city center that the last. The third generation relocated west to a custom-built workshop and showroom on Richmond Avenue that opened in 1975, five years after the opening of the nearby upscale mall, The Galleria. The company's skilled artisans craft every shirt from start to finish in the workshop, which is visible from the showroom. Hamilton Shirts, the firm's name since 2007, is one of the oldest continuously operating retail businesses in the city. For more than 130 years, it has outfitted Houstonians and other prominent Americans, including entertainers, politicians and captains of industry. (2017)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Edward Joseph Hamilton arrived in Houston in 1883 at age 21 and started a menswear shop that soon specialized in the custom-made shirts still at the heart of the business today. By 1910 five of Edward's younger brothers had become co-owners, and four generations of the family have since kept the company in continuous operation in Houston, from its early home in the Rice Hotel block to a custom workshop and showroom opened near the Galleria in 1975. Renamed Hamilton Shirts in 2007, it ranks among the city's oldest continuously operating retail businesses.
Why it matters
Hamilton Shirts embodies the enduring family enterprise and craftsmanship that grew alongside Houston across more than 130 years of the city's history.
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Related people
- · Edward Joseph Hamilton
Themes & tags
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