The History of Ball Corporation
Heck, you could spend a lot of time
here if you're not careful. The five Ball brothers founded Ball in 1880. Our
company is still probably best known by the public for its home canning jars,
which we no longer make (see below). Here's some stuff about those jars, and
highlights from our past. If you collect Ball jars, here are some questions and
answers you may want to read. You can also download
an Acrobat Reader file of our popular history poster which details the history
of our company from 1880 to present. (You will need Acrobat Reader installed on
your computer to read this file. You can download the free reader by clicking
here.) During its 100-plus years of existence, Ball Corporation has grown
from a small producer of wooden-jacketed tin cans to an international
manufacturing company. Ball is recognized around the world for its high-quality
metal and PET plastic food and beverage containers, and for its leading
aerospace technology products and services. The five founding Ball brothers
started the company in 1880 in Buffalo, New York. Two of the brothers, Frank
and Edmund, borrowed $200 from their Uncle George, a minister, to go into
business selling wood-jacketed tin containers to hold paint, varnishes and
kerosene. They named their business the Wooden Jacket Can Company. Their
product was so successful they expanded their line. Soon, the brothers had
refined their original product to tin-jacketed, glass-lined containers. In
1884, the renamed Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company began manufacturing
yet another new product - the home canning jar, which would one day make Ball a
household name. In 1887, the five Ball brothers - Edmund,
Frank, George, Lucius and William - moved their business to Muncie, Indiana to
take advantage of a natural gas boom in the Midwest. Great quantities of
natural gas were necessary to make glass. Ball acquired the first of several
small glass companies in 1898, and printed the first Ball Blue Book - featuring
home canning recipes and techniques - in 1909.
Other highlights include:
· The acquisition of the metal beverage container assets of Reynolds Metals Company in 1998. The acquisition made Ball the largest supplier of metal beverage cans in North America, and one of the larger in the world.
· The acquisition of M.C. Packaging (Hong Kong) Ltd. in China. MCP, combined with Ball's FTB Packaging Ltd. joint venture in China, makes Ball the largest supplier of cans in that nation.
· The creation and sale of Ball-Foster Glass Container Co., a joint venture glass company with Group Saint Gobain, in September 1995. Ball sold its remaining interest in Ball-Foster to Group Saint Gobain in 1996, and exited the glass business.
· The transition of Ball's aerospace business and its conversion to a wholly owned subsidiary in July 1995. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is based in Broomfield, Colorado.
· The establishment of Ball's plastic container operations in 1994. It makes PET plastic containers and is based near Atlanta, Ga.
· The acquisition of Heekin Can, Inc. in March 1993. Heekin was the largest regional manufacturer of metal food containers in the U.S. prior to the acquisition. Combined with Ball Packaging Products Canada, Inc.'s six plants, the eleven former Heekin plants made Ball the third largest producer of metal food and aerosol cans in the North American market.
· The spin-off of Alltrista Corporation (now Jarden Corp.) in March 1993. Ball reorganized and spun-off seven former divisions to form Alltrista Corporation. Alltrista, which was comprised of consumer products (which markets the famous Ball canning supplies), metal services, zinc products, Unimark plastics, industrial plastics, plastic packaging and the LumenX company, began trading on the NASDAQ exchange in April under the symbol "JARS." Alltrista is a separate, independent company.
· The 1969 acquisition of Jeffco Manufacturing Company in Denver and subsequent metal beverage container operations formation. The company now has nine North American metal beverage container plants and produces 17 billion beverage cans and easy-open can ends.
· The 1956 formation of Ball Brothers Research Corporation. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. today produces space systems engineering products; telecommunications technology; and electro-optics and cryogenics materials for government and commercial customers