A trade card for Davis Hatch's (1791-1869) footwear store on Front Street in Bath from around 1875. This image of a young woman, holding a conveniently large fan for the imprinting of any advertiser's information, would have been a stock image (#442 in the bottom left-hand corner) available to many businesses.

Before 1888, there were no standardized address numbers in Bath, and merchants chose numbers for their storefronts. Hatch used 76 for his business, and because his address was 116 Front Street after re-numbering, the card dates from before 1888. Hatch had the building constructed in 1838 after his business was destroyed in the "Great Fire of 1837." He and his descendants kept a boot and shoe business there for more than 100 years, selling not only boots and shoes but also fur caps, buckskin gloves and mittens, and trunks.

Davis Hatch was fully involved in the civic life of the community, serving on a committee for the expansion of the almshouse in 1838 and as a alderman in the newly formed city of Bath in 1848. For a time Hatch was prosperous enough to have his portrait painted by Phillip Spooner Harris, but this did not last. Hatch had constructed several business blocks after the fire of 1837, diversifying his business interests, but financial difficulties forced the selling of these investments. The Hatches returned to rely on the family's original source of income, the making and selling of shoes.