Doing good for the community by doing good for themselves…
Both Frank and Edmund Ball were born in Greensburg, Ohio, and grew up in upstate New York. The brothers, two of eight children would found a company that became a family enterprise. That company was started in 1880 when the brothers borrowed $200 from their uncle to start a canning company, the Wood Jacket Can Co, which made wood covered tin cans used for shipping paint and various petroleum products. Between 1882 & 1884 the brothers started making glass inserts, some of which were in turn wrapped with tin.
This addition of glass was more than just improving an existing product, it was the beginning of an expansion of the company’s product line. A significant driver of this expansion was the fact that in late 19th century America food processing as we know it today, on an industrial scale didn’t exist. As such, many families – the majority of which still lived on farms – would “can” their food for consumption later in the year or for sale at fairs and community stores. Indeed, city dwellers could also purchase these products in local markets and retailers. This canning became popular a quarter century earlier when John Landis Mason invented the “Mason Jar” which featured a threaded top that allowed a threaded lid to be screwed on, creating a tight, safe seal. Safety was a particular issue as earlier canning jars had been sealed with wax, which presented a wide variety of dangers, not the least of which was bacteria. His re-useable, easy to use containers eventually became popular across the country.
The newly christened Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Co. jumped into the Mason Jar market following the expiration of Mason’s patents and became the leading manufacturer of such jars for much of the next half century. What set Ball Brothers apart was their constant innovation in terms of making jars. After a fire destroyed their plant in Buffalo, NY, (one of many fiery disasters they would face) the brothers looked for a new place to build. After looking at a variety of cities in the Midwest, the pair eventually decided on Muncie, Indiana in 1887, in some part due to the city’s offering the them 2.7 acres of land, a gas well, a railroad connection and $5,000 in cash. As compelling as those enticements were, however, at its core moving from Buffalo to Muncie was an effort to be closer to the newly drilled Midwest gas wells which offered a significant savings on energy, a key element in the production of glass. The brothers introduced and or invented new, efficient furnaces, power presses and processes for manufacturing that by 1900 had the company manufacturing over 120,000 jars a day, despite still producing a variety of wood and metal cans for oils and other products.
And it wasn’t just innovation that kept the Ball brothers busy. In the two decades from 1890 to 1910 the Ball brothers would purchase in excess of a dozen other companies, some of which were competitors and others which were in complementary businesses, but all of which helped strengthen their business and bring them into other areas including bottle manufacturing and fruit jars. Frank and Clayton would lead the company into the first quarter of the 20th century and set the company on a path that would see it not only survive, but thrive.
Ball Brothers would remain the largest fruit and mason jar manufacturer until World War II when that aspect of the business would decline as other elements would pick up, with the firm selling both to the consumer market and supporting military needs during World War II. Indeed, at the close of the first quarter of the 21st century Ball Manufacturing is a $20 billion company that makes a spectrum of products from glass containers to metal aerosol cans and is the largest aluminum can manufacturer in the world.
Frank and Clayton Ball were not prolific inventors, but they were corporate innovators, and geniuses with vision. They not only recognized where potential opportunities in a growing market existed, they knew how to innovate in order to exploit them and could recognize where other firms could help strengthen their offerings. Together, eventually with the assistance of Lucius, Willam & George, Frank and Clayton would slowly but methodically build a brand that most Americans would know for much of the next century, as almost everyone during that period grew up with more than a few Ball Jars in their mother’s cabinets.
All of this success made the Ball brothers extraordinarily wealthy and they would use much of that wealth support the community that gave them so much when they were just starting out. The brothers would found Ball State University in Muncie as well as the Ball Memorial hospital and the Muncie YMCA and YWCA. Today the Ball Brothers Foundation funds everything from art to healthcare to education in the counties surrounding Muncie, Indiana. Once again this is another story of entrepreneurs doing a great job of creating great wealth by giving customers something they need, and then turning around and giving much of that wealth to the communities from which they prospered so much. That is certainly something to be grateful for!
Lucius Ball (1850 – 1932)
William Ball (1852 – 1921)
George Ball (1862 1955)
Further reading:
https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/BallBros.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Landis_Mason
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Corporation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_brothers
https://magazine.bsu.edu/2024/03/11/a-legacy-rooted-in-philanthropy/