I should mention here for the unenlightened who may be on the lookout for bargain Stetsons and Ten Gallon hats, The hat that really "won the west" was reportedly the humble Bowler 
Stetson originally designed what later became known as the Ten Gallon Hat but the "Stetson" the Cowboy hat as we know it today wasn't designed until the early 1900's
True, but I would just say Stetson did what a lot of successful designers have done, IE he took previously established designs and gave them his own slant. Hence his name became most associated with that style, but they were around previously.
This handsome fellow for example always goes down well with the ladies so I'll post him again.
I can't remember the exact date of that off hand, but it was date tested and it's definitely late C19th. From what I gather one popular thing was essentially to buy an open crowned hat blank, similar to Stetsons famous "Boss Of The Planes" design from the 1860's, and bash it yourself.
It's certainly true that historically speaking many C19th styles were worn out west, but it's just a fact that nothing says cowboy quite like a cowboy hat, and there's a very definite (if slightly misinformed) idea these days as to what that is.
Mind you I still have debates with folks who seem to believe the Fedora wasn't invented until the 1920's, so what can you do?
Anyway sorry for the threadjack, we now return to our regularly scheduled program.
