• Norwalk Connecticut Holiday Ornament, First American Derby, Crystal Glass Ornament Hanging on a Christmas Tree
  • Norwalk Connecticut Holiday Ornament, First American Derby, Crystal Glass Ornament Hanging on White
  • Norwalk Connecticut Holiday Ornament, First American Derby, Crystal Glass Ornament in Gold Gift Box
  • Norwalk Connecticut Holiday Ornament, First American Derby, Crystal Glass Ornament in White Gift Box
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Norwalk Connecticut Holiday Ornament - First American Derby

Norwalk Connecticut Holiday Ornament - First American Derby

$28.00 USD
$28.00 USD
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A black bowler hat on a milliner's block, a red band around the crown, tape measure and brush beside it. The first American derby was made in South Norwalk in 1850.

Norwalk made hats for a hundred years, and in 1850 a South Norwalk hatter turned out the first derby made in America, the round-crowned hard felt hat that became the uniform of the working man and the gentleman alike. At the peak the city's factories shipped hats by the millions, and the river ran with the dye.

The factories are condominiums now, but Hat City is still a name people here use, and the derby is the hat that made it stick.

A hat on a block, nothing else needed. The red band is the holiday touch and the one bit of color on a very dignified piece.

Norwalk CT was Hat City, where the first derby hat made in America came off the block in 1850. The bowler hat and derby hat history runs through every milliner and hat making shop on the river. This hat ornament is a Norwalk Christmas ornament and Connecticut ornament, a piece of Norwalk history for the tree.

Every Norwalk ornament ships ready to give. Hang it on the tree, in a window, off a lamp, or send one to the person who misses Norwalk most.

3-inch faceted crystal glass ornament, white-backed print, line-drawn in 1880s engraving style, your choice of white or gold gift box.


QUICK FACTS — NORWALK CT CRYSTAL ORNAMENT — FIRST AMERICAN DERBY

Town: Norwalk, Connecticut

Founded: Settled 1640; incorporated 1651

Known for: Hat City of America; Lockwood-Mathews Mansion (1864); the Maritime Aquarium; SoNo

Art: First American Derby, original Merlin Classics engraving

Blank: 3-inch (76 mm) round clear crystal glass ornament, faceted gem-cut edge

Print: white-backed for contrast; red ribbon hanger

Packaging: white or gold gift box, chosen at checkout

Made to order in the USA



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Wear Local. Feed Local. Stay Classic.

Product FAQs

How does your sizing work?

Every item is made to order, so please check the size chart on this page before you buy. Women's fitted tees run small; size up for a looser fit. Caps are one size with an adjustable strap.

How are items made and when will they arrive?

We make each item to order using premium blanks, embroidery and soft-hand prints. Production takes 2-5 business days (weekends and holidays excluded), then 4-10 days in transit via USPS, UPS or FedEx to U.S. addresses; most orders arrive within 6-15 business days. You'll get a tracking link the moment it ships. Any current shipping offer is shown in the bar at the top of every page and applies automatically at checkout, no code needed.

How do I send a gift?

Enter the recipient's address as the shipping address and your own as the billing address at checkout. Nothing ships with a price; the package includes a plain packing slip. Tracking goes to your email, not theirs. For birthdays and holidays, order two weeks ahead to be safe.

What's the return policy?

Made-to-order items can't be returned or exchanged for size or color, so please use the size chart and photos before ordering. If anything arrives defective, misprinted or damaged, send a photo and your order number within 30 days and we'll replace it or refund you.

How do I care for my item?

Apparel: wash cold, inside out, with like colors; no bleach; tumble dry low or hang dry. Embroidered pieces: iron inside out to protect the stitching. Caps: spot clean. Printed glasses and water bottles: hand wash only, no dishwasher, so the artwork lasts. Mugs and engraved glasses are dishwasher safe. Any item-specific care notes are in the description above.

Who makes this?

Merlin Classics is a small Connecticut brand making original retro designs for the towns people love. Every piece is printed, embroidered or engraved to order in the USA, and the business supports hunger relief in the communities our collections celebrate.

More From Crystal Glass Ornaments

All Crystal Glass Ornaments Items

So Norwalk gathers a 1640 purchase and an honest name, a burned and rebuilt green, the first American derby, a pre-Vanderbilt mansion, three lighthouses, a string of islands, and the oyster beds that fed New York — and our Norwalk designs gather that into wearable form. Whether Norwalk is your hometown, your harbor, your SoNo years, or the town you still come back to, wear the history. On the half shell from the beginning — on Norwalk Harbor since 1640.

What’s with the Oysters? Norwalk’s official nickname is “Oyster Town,” and it was earned the hard way — pulled from the shallow natural beds around the Norwalk Islands, one dredge-haul at a time. By the 1880s the harbor held one of the great oyster fleets of the Atlantic coast, and Norwalk oysters fed New York by the boatload; oystering here was serious wealth — food, income, and status on the half shell. The trade fell on harder times in the twentieth century, but the beds and the boats never entirely left, and every September the Oyster Festival fills the harborfront to celebrate the town that made its name on the half shell.

Why People Visit Norwalk Connecticut

Norwalk offers an authentic working harbor, one of America's earliest Gilded Age mansions, a major aquarium, an annual oyster festival, an offshore island ferry to an 1868 lighthouse, and a nineteenth-century industrial waterfront reborn as a historic district. Visitors come for the SoNo galleries and restaurants, the Maritime Aquarium with its harbor seals and Sound-habitat exhibits, the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion and its preserved Second Empire interiors, the September Oyster Festival, the Sheffield Island ferry, and the simple shoreline pleasures of Calf Pasture Beach. It is a Connecticut shoreline city built on the harbor, the hat, and the oyster, with all three still visible if you know where to look.

Norwalk Connecticut Merlin Classics retro vintage logo featuring Connecticut shoreline oyster shell motif