The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. work is the key to success, and hard work can help you accomplish anything.
~Vince Lombardi
Photo: F.C.Batton, Jr. In the Army in Colorado.
Scott and his brother, Rick and their two sisters, Jan and Sue, have often talked about their memories of their grandfather F.C. Batton, Sr. getting dressed to go to work. You would never have known he was in the housebuilding business from his apparel. Every morning before he set off to work he brushed his topcoat and fedora top hat and shined his shoes. In his home in Hamilton in Baltimore, Maryland he had a shoe shine station down in his basement. All his leather lace-up shoes were neatly organized on racks along with his galoshes for wet or mud conditions. On the back of the basement door was a hat holder, where all his fedoras hung. Some were felt and others straw. What he picked to wear depended on the season.
Today, men in the construction business dress vastly less formally in very rugged Carhartt or Kuhl pants and quilted work vests for cold weather and steel toed work boots In winter on cold days on the job F.C. Batton, Sr. often protect his chest with sheets of newspaper underneath his woolen sweater and topcoat.
During the decades he was at the helm of what is now a 5 generation business, popular choices of homes F.C. Batton, Sr. built were described as American four squares and bungalows. Custom touches sometimes were added. Not only have home designs changed but workwear has also.
What has not changed through the decades is the Batton work ethic. The men in the business will bend over backwards as much as they possibly can to please the customer, just as the generations have before them.