Ball Jars: From Wooden Cans to the Stars, Part Three

By 1930, Ball had grown into a sprawling industrial network built around glass, closures, rubber seals, paper products, machinery, and commercial packaging.

Part Three follows the company through the Great Depression, the purchase and closure of Three Rivers Glass Company, the federal antitrust case, the changing postwar household, and Ball’s unexpected turn from pantry jars toward aerospace.

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Ball Jars: From Wooden Cans to the Stars, Part Two

By 1910, Ball was no longer simply a fruit-jar company in Muncie. The brothers had spent decades buying factories, machinery, molds, and competitors, and they were beginning to knit those pieces into a much larger industrial network.

Part Two follows Ball into Texas, through the First World War and the rise of home canning, the company’s 1922 name change, and the 1925 purchase of Schram, which brought the Drey jar line into the Ball system.

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Ball Jars: From Wooden Cans to the Stars

Before Ball became the name stamped across pantry shelves, five brothers began with wooden-jacketed tin cans, borrowed money, and a willingness to move wherever opportunity opened the door.

Part One follows the Ball brothers from Buffalo to Muncie, through their early glassmaking years, aggressive expansion, and the 1909 Greenfield purchase that helped transform Ball into a growing glass empire.

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