DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Hamilton Shirts, right there in Harris County. Now settle in, because this is a story about a young man, a city on the rise, and a century-and-a-half of stubbornness in the best possible sense. Edward Joseph Hamilton rolled into Houston in 1883.
He was twenty-one years old. Twenty-one. And he didn't waste a single afternoon getting to work.
He founded a menswear business right then and there — Hamilton and Scurry, selling hats, caps, and what the marker calls, with wonderful period dignity, 'gents furnishing goods.' Now, the name changed a time or two in those early years. Hamilton and Mason by 1886, Hamilton Bros. by 1887. But here's where it gets good.
By 1910, five of Edward's six younger brothers had become co-owners. Five brothers. James Brooke, William, George, Bernard, and Arthur — all of them in the fold.
That is either a family with extraordinary trust, or extraordinary persuasion, and maybe both. The business had grown by then to include custom-made shirts, and those shirts would become the heart of everything that followed. For the first sixty-six years, Hamilton Bros. held its ground on the Rice Hotel block, right on Main Street between Prairie and Texas — Houston real estate that carried a certain weight.
The second generation of owners moved the company to three separate Main Street locations, each one farther from the city center than the last, trackin' Houston's restless outward sprawl. Then the third generation went west entirely, to a custom-built workshop and showroom on Richmond Avenue that opened in 1975, five years after the nearby Galleria had opened up and changed that part of the city. And here's a detail that tells you everything about the philosophy of the place: the workshop where the skilled artisans craft every shirt from start to finish is visible right from the showroom.
No curtain, no mystery — just the work, on display. The company took the name Hamilton Shirts in 2007, but the line runs unbroken all the way back to that twenty-one-year-old stepping off into Houston in 1883. Four generations.
More than a hundred and thirty years. Entertainers, politicians, captains of industry — all of them outfitted by the same family, the same hands, the same obsession with exacting quality. In a city that has torn itself down and rebuilt itself more times than anyone can count, Hamilton Shirts just kept making the shirts.
That, friend, is how you leave a mark.
What the marker says
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)