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Shiela Kirkpatrick, the Montana Hatmaker in the Cowgirl Hall of Fame

A Montana custom hatter who learned the trade by ruining hats, then built hats for working cowboys and a presidential gift.

Who is Shiela Kirkpatrick?

Shiela Kirkpatrick, who also appears in print as Sheila Kirkpatrick-Massar, is a Montana custom hatmaker who joined the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1992. According to a 2014 profile in Distinctly Montana, she was the first hatter ever inducted, and she was still the only one at that time.

Public documentation on her comes mainly from Montana local-press profiles, and every personal detail below is drawn from them.

Learning the hat trade

Her father was a rodeo announcer, and, as the university's profile notes, she often traveled with him to rodeos. At about age ten she began shaping hats on her own, and she gained more experience working at a sporting goods store. She then worked for a custom hatter in Billings, Montana, for a year and a half.

She has described early hatmaking as a secret little club, where learning often meant ruining hats. By 2014 she had been making hats for more than thirty-five years, and she estimated that only about forty custom hatmakers worked in the United States, very few of them women.

From Wisdom to Twin Bridges

In 1983 she moved to Wisdom, Montana, and opened Kirkpatrick Custom Hatters. She ran it until the mid-1990s, when ranch duties required her to step back from hat building. The articles give no further detail about the ranch.

By 1999 she was making custom hats again and opened Montana Mad Hatters in Twin Bridges, Montana. Her daughter Ericka now operates the shop, according to a University of Montana Western article.

How a custom hat is built

In the Distinctly Montana profile, she describes starting from raw hat bodies made from beaver, rabbit or nutria fur. The process includes steaming, blocking, hand-shaping, ironing, curling, pouncing (sanding), sewing and decorating, and she can adjust sizing to a fraction of an inch.

Most of her equipment is seventy to a hundred years old. When parts are unavailable, she modifies parts from other machines, often repairs machines herself, and sometimes has a machinist friend build what she needs. She makes cowboy hats, derbies, adventure-film style hats and fishing hats, and she branched into bronze sculptures and leather accessories such as chaps and visors.

The Key to Her Success

Kirkpatrick built a durable business in a trade with few practitioners and no advertising budget. The documented habits behind that are plain.

The record also shows limits: ranch duties pulled her away from the hat shop in the mid-1990s, and the sources give no sales or revenue figures, so none are stated.

  • She learned by doing, ruining hats along the way, then trained under a custom hatter in Billings.
  • She kept her tools running by repairing old machines and adapting parts instead of replacing everything.
  • She sold through word of mouth only and, as of 2014, sold hats only from her own shop.
  • She priced hats so working cowboys and young ranch hands could afford quality.
  • She widened the line to bronzes and leather goods, while hats stayed the main product.

Customers, clients and community

Her customers include working cowboys, bankers, doctors and lawyers, with orders from New Zealand, Japan, England and Malaysia. She has been featured in a Japanese public-television documentary, and the State of Montana commissioned her to build a hat for President George H.W. Bush. Other clients named in the University of Montana Western article include actress Cheryl Ladd and singer Hank Williams Jr.

She has donated hats to the university's rodeo program nearly every year since it began, and the program honored her at its Rodeo Club Banquet on March 29, 2019. The program's head coach called the cowboy hat a symbol of rodeo culture.

About the Cowgirl Hall of Fame honor

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, honors women whose work shaped the American West. Kirkpatrick's 1992 induction made her its first hatter, and the 2014 article credits her humility as part of why she was chosen.

To read more about the people behind Western gear, see farm.FM's ranching section or a farm.FM story about cowboy hats.

Timeline

  1. About age 10Begins shaping hats on her own
  2. 1983Opens Kirkpatrick Custom Hatters in Wisdom, Montana
  3. 1992Inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame as its first hatter
  4. Mid-1990sSteps back from hat building because of ranch duties
  5. 1999Back to custom hats; opens Montana Mad Hatters in Twin Bridges
  6. 2014Distinctly Montana profiles her; she remains the only hatter honored
  7. 2019Honored at the University of Montana Western Rodeo Club Banquet

Frequently asked questions

Who is Shiela Kirkpatrick?

She is a Montana custom hatmaker, also written Sheila Kirkpatrick-Massar, and founder of Montana Mad Hatters. She was the first hatter inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, in 1992.

Where is Montana Mad Hatters?

It is a custom hat shop in Twin Bridges, Montana, opened around 1999 and now operated by her daughter, Ericka. Hats are made to order for ranch and rodeo customers.

What are her hats made from?

She starts with raw hat bodies of beaver, rabbit or nutria fur, then steams, blocks, shapes, irons, curls, sands, sews and decorates each hat by hand.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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