playbill vip

The H. B. Glover Company, founded by Henry B. Glover in a copartnership named H. B. Glover and Company with W. P. Bingham, A. J. Parker, lester C. Bissell and J. B. Glover, was one of the oldest manufacturers of men's wear west of Chicago and one of the oldest companies of its type in the nation.

Founded in 1856 as a small auction room on Main Street, the company began large-scale manufacturing of clothing in 1876. Its factory, listed in the 1878-79 Dubuque City Directory was located at 744 to 752 Main. It had forty-eight steam-powered sewing machines and used 2,600 yards of material daily. 

A strike at the company in 1890 was the basis of a book entitled 7 1/2 Cents, written by Richard Bissell, son of the company president. This story was made into the hit musical Pajama Game.

Adele Ball Hammerand

Ensemble Member Katherine Uelner's great grandmother, Adele Ball Hammerand, worked in the H.B. Glover factory from 1930-1934. Her daughter (Kate's grandmother) can remember her mother talking about the ladies taking naps during their breaks.  They would climb into the bins where the finished pajamas were placed and take their naps there.  So Adele always washed every piece of clothing she ever bought after that because she said you never know who has slept on them.