Martin's Hat Shop operated at this address in Freetown from about 1942 to 2008, continuing a business that began in 1915 at 115 W. Cypress Street near the Jefferson Street underpass. John Martin opened the shop after training in New Orleans and learning the specialized art of crafting, cleaning, blocking, and restyling hats. After the Cypress Street building burned twice, he moved the business to this location around 1942, next door to his home. Shortly after the move, his son John Martin, Jr., and John Jr.'s wife, Thelma Goodie Martin, joined the business, and they carried it on after John Sr.'s retirement in the early 1960s. Before 1960, hats were a necessary part of everyday dress and hat shops like Martin's were plentiful, but by 1960 it was the only shop of its kind between Houston and New Orleans. Customers from across the U.S. shipped their hats there, and after John Martin, Jr., died in 1976, Thelma continued the shop's legacy until her retirement in 2008, recalling the years she and her husband spent listening to music and dancing in the shop while they worked together at a craft they both loved.