HoboLogo.html
Link to Hobo Chatroom

A forum for exhibition of
Artwork Suggestions

Which Logo Do YOU Like ?
Form at bottom of this page !

New Hobo Logo

The original Idea is that we as present day hobos need a logo design that depicts us hobos in a positive traveling / working light.
The new image that hobos of the 21st century create
would give a better depiction of the kind of people that are represented by that Design / Logo.
It would also give the Tourist Union #63 and the Brotherhood of Independent Hobos of America a symbol that would be theirs. TTMM

The Suggestions on this site are only that - suggestions. Listed as they come in. Each page links you to the next page.
A meeting of the Hobo Family will be held to discuss and determine our NEW Symbol of what the hobo has meant to our nation over the past 100 years and to modern hobos as well. Your comments are welcome.
IF YOU WANT TO SEE ALL LOGOS LISTED:
> GO TO THIS PAGE <
http://www.oocities.org/hobotramp/HoboLogosSelect.html

OR
 Take the Tour
http://www.oocities.org/hobotramp/HoboLogo1.html

Friends of Hobos, you may leave comments in our Forum

Hobo Logo

The Britt hobo logo was first used in the 1900 convention announcements and advertising.
The figure used in the ad has been changed very little over the years and is now found around town on school letterheads, the city's watertower, on the highway welcome sign, as well as on restaurant menus.

The "Britt hobo" is thought to be Tourist Union 63 President Onion Cotton. Onion Cotton is the hobo who agreed to bring the convention to Britt in 1900.

A heavy coat was home for this 1900 hobo and the only way to keep under garments clean.

A bindle stick and personalized head gear are appropriate for the logo hobo and are typical of the 1990 hobos. Hobos over the years have been known on sight by their hats and walking sticks.

Tied to the bindle stick is a grub box and a tomato can. The hobo carries a tube in his other hand, most likely this is a rolled up convention announcement. Some reproductions over the years have turned the tube into a beer can, but it is unlikely that the 1900 hobo carried a beer, as beer in cans weren't yet manufactured.

The symbols under the Britt Hobo are a draw pin and a link coupler, the fixtures used to hook early railroad cars together. They are symbolic of the Tourist Union and of the Britt conventions - a linking up, forming a union, a coming together.

Hobos had their own symbol code to communicate with one another. The symbols were used to point out good camp sites, good water sources, a kind person, travel directions or the authorities.

 The Britt Hobo


Whatta' ya think ?

This friendship with Hobos began with the aspirations of three Britt men, Thomas A. Way, T.A. Potter, and W.E. Bradford, in 1900. Their desire was to gain some attention for the small
Iowa town to "do something different to show the world that Britt was a lively little town capable of doing anything that larger cities could do."

Way and Potter read a report in the Chicago paper that Tourists Union No. 63 had elected as officers Onion Cotton, of Danville, Illinois and Grand Head Pipe Charles F. Noe, of Sycamore, Illinois. They wrote to Noe and invited him to bring the Hobo Convention to Britt in 1900. Noe wrote them that he would come out to Britt and look the ground over, providing Way and Potter would defray his carfare and expenses. They agreed.

It was an autumn day in 1899 that Noe arrived at the Milwaukee depot and was met by Way and Potter. They wined and dined the Grand Head Pipe, then called in an attorney, W.E. Bradford, to guide the proceedings and see that they were legal. They also invited Phil Reed, a newspaper man connected with the Britt News. The four men must have guaranteed athta the Hobo Convention would go over big in Britt, for Noe agreed to bring the convention to Britt in 1900 and the 22nd day of August was set as the date.

Bailey of Britt, a nationally known humorist and an ardent conventioneer, assumed the publicity end of the promotion, and various other men took responsible positions on the
committees. The novelty of the convention appealed to newspaper reporters everywhere, and everyone talked it up, taking the matter as a joke - except the promoters.

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Check Out Hobos of America & Tourist Union #63 History
http://www.oocities.org/hobotramp/HoboLogosAbout.html

Hobo Kings and Queens
(Britt)

  1900
        Charles Noe
  1933-35
        Hairbreadth Harry
  1936
        Scoop Shovel Scotty
  1937
        King David II
  1940-45
        Hobo Ben Benson
  1946
        Skeet Simmons
                          QUEEN Polly Ellen Pep
  1947
        Hiway Johnny Weaver
                          QUEEN Polly Ellen Pep
  1948
        Hobo Ben Benson
                          QUEEN Polly Ellen Pep
  1949
        Cannonball Eddie
                          QUEEN Box Car Myrtle
  1950
        Hobo Ben Benson
                          QUEEN Box Car Myrtle
  1951
        Cannonball Eddie
                          QUEEN Sylvia Davis
  1952
        Scoop Shovel Scotty
                          QUEEN Sylvia Davis
  1953
        Hobo Ben Benson
                          QUEEN Sylvia Davis
  1954
        Scoop Shovel Scotty
                          QUEEN Box Car Betty Link
  1955
        Scoop Shovel Scotty
                          QUEEN Box Car Betty Link
  1956
        Hobo Ben Benson
  1957
        Scoop Shovel Scotty
  1958
        Arizona Bill
                          QUEEN Box Car Betty Link
  1959
        Scoop Shovel Scotty
                          QUEEN Box Car Betty Link
  1960
        King David I
  1961
        King David I
  1962
        Scoop Shovel Scotty
  1963
        Pennsylvania Kid Wilson
  1964
        Beef Steak Charlie
  1965
        Hardrock Kid
  1966
        Pennsylvania Kid
  1967
        Hardrock Kid
  1968
        Pennsylvania Kid
  1969
        Slow Motion Shorty
                          QUEEN Box Car Myrtle
  1970
        Hardrock Kid
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1971
        Pennsylvania Kid
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1972
        Hardrock Kid
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1973
        Steamtrain Maury
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1974
        Slow Motion Shorty
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1975
        Hardrock Kid
                          QUEEN Adventurer Jan
  1976
        Steamtrain Maury
                          QUEEN LuAnn Uhden
  1977
        Sparky Smith
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1978
        Steamtrain Maury
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1979
        Steamtrain Maury
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1980
        Sparky Smith
                          QUEEN Cinderbox Cindy
  1981
        Steamtrain Maury
                          QUEEN Hobo Lump
  1982
        Hobo Bill Mainer
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1983
        Mountain Dew
                          QUEEN Hobo Lump
  1984
        Fry Pan Jack
                          QUEEN Slo Freight Ben
  1985
        Frisco Jack
                          QUEEN Longlooker Mic
  1986
        Ramblin' Rudy
                          QUEEN Minneapolis Jewel
  1987
        Alabama Hobo
                          QUEEN Hobo Lump
  1988
        Fishbones
                          QUEEN Would-be-hobo
  1989
        El Paso Kid
                          QUEEN Slo Freight Ben
  1990
        Songbird McCue
                          QUEEN Gypsy Moon
  1991
        Ohio Ned
                          QUEEN Minneapolis Jewel
  1992
        Roadhog, USA
                          QUEEN Connecticut Shorty
  1993
        Iowa Blackie
                          QUEEN Blue Moon
  1994
        Sidedoor Pullman Kid
                          QUEEN New York Maggie
  1995
        Luther the Jet Gette
                          QUEEN Cinderbox Cindy
  1996
        Liberty Justice
                          QUEEN Come On Pat
  1997
       Frog
                          QUEEN Minneapolis Jewel
  1998
        New York Slim
                          QUEEN Cinders
  1999
        Preacher Steve
                         QUEEN Slo Freight Ben
  2000
        Bo Grump
                          QUEEN Mad Mary
  2001
       Grandpa Dudley
                          QUEEN DeRail

  2002    KING & QUEEN TO BE ELECTED IN AUGUST, 2002