Shirt collarsIn 1825, housewife Hannah Lord Montague (1794-1878) at 139 Third Street, Troy, N.Y. took her scissors and created the first detachable collar on one of her husband's shirts in order to reduce her laundry load to the collar only. Her husband, Orlando Montague, showed his wife's invention to other men around town. Their wives embraced this new invention. Merchants followed suit, and manufactured collars in mass quantities for sale to the outside world. Woodsheds, garrets and store fronts became collar making places as people were drawn to this new trade by its apparent simplicity: a table, a pair of scissors, a bolt of cloth and a spool of cotton was all that was necessary. Troy, New York, became "Collar City" to the rest of America. |
