Ball brothers

The Ball brothers (Lucius, William, Edmund, Frank, and George) were five American industrialists and philanthropists who in 1880 established a glass manufacturing business in New York and prospered hugely from their mass production of home canning jars, sometimes known as "Ball jars".[1] In 1888, they moved their glass manufacturing operations from Buffalo, New York, to Muncie, Indiana, due to the abundance of natural gas in the area. By 1937, the value of the company was estimated at nearly $7 million .[2] The family also owned other profitable businesses in Muncie and elsewhere.

The brothers were noted for their philanthropy and community service. Earnings from their business ventures provided the financial resources to support a number of civic building projects and large charitable gifts to their home city. Most notably, the brothers became benefactors of several Muncie institutions including Ball State University, Ball Memorial Hospital, Keuka College, the YMCA, and the YWCA. The Ball Brothers Foundation, established in 1926, continues the family's philanthropic interests.

The family firm was renamed the Ball Corporation in 1969, becoming a global manufacturer of plastic and metal containers for food and beverages, as well as a manufacturer of equipment and supplier of services to the aerospace industry.

Early life and family

The family descends from an early colonial immigrant, Edward Ball, and several other founders of Newark, New Jersey. [3]

The Ball brothers' parents, Lucius Styles Ball, a farmer and merchant, and Maria Polly Bingham Ball, a former schoolteacher, were born in Canada. They met in Greensburg, Ohio, and married on September 1, 1846.[4] Lucius and Maria had a total of eight children, six sons and two daughters: Lucina Amelia, Lucius Lorenzo, William Charles, Edmund Burke, Frank Clayton, Mary Frances, George Alexander, and Clinton Harvey (died in infancy). The children were raised in eastern Ohio and in upstate New York.[5][6]

The boys' sister, Lucina, was an educator who assisted in the founding of Drexel Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and served as its financial secretary. Their other sister, Mary Frances, married Joseph W. Mauck, who became a longtime president of

Lucius L. Ball

Lucius Lorenzo Ball (March 29, 1850 – July 22, 1932),[11] the eldest of the brothers was born in Greensburg, Ohio. He grew up in Ohio and moved with the family to upstate New York, where he attended public schools and Canandaigua Academy at Canandaigua, New York.[12] Lucius, whose ambition was to become a doctor, received his medical degree from the University of Buffalo in 1889, at the age of forty, and served as the house physician in Adrian Hospital in Pennsylvania before establishing a medical practice in Buffalo, New York. He moved to Muncie, Indiana, in 1894.[13][14] In addition to becoming a shareholder and serving on the board of the Ball brothers' manufacturing company, Lucius practiced medicine in the Muncie community.[5] He was a member of the Scottish Rite and the Universalist

William C. Ball

William Charles Ball (August 13, 1852 – April 30, 1921)[11] was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, grew up in upstate New York, and attended public school and Canandaigua Academy with his siblings. When two of his brothers, Frank and Edmund, moved to Indiana in the mid-1880s, William remained in Buffalo, New York, to close out business affairs. He moved to Muncie in 1897.[12] William was a Ball company salesman and served as the corporation's secretary.[13] Like his brothers, he was involved in Muncie's political and civic activities. William served on several boards, including the Muncie and Portland Traction Company, Merchants National Bank, and Hillsdale College. He was also a member of the Scottish Rite and the Universalist church.[16]

William and his wife, Emma Wood, had one son.[16] Their home in Muncie was a red brick Georgian design that they named Maplewood.

Edmund B. Ball

Edmund Burke Ball (October 27, 1855 – March 8, 1925)[11] was cofounder of the Ball manufacturing business with his brother, Frank. Born in Greensburg, Ohio, he moved with his family to upstate New York, where he attended public schools and Canandaigua Academy.[12] In the mid-1880s Edmund relocated from Buffalo, New York, to Muncie, Indiana, where he served as vice president and general manager of the company, and as treasurer and secretary of the Ball brothers' corporation. Edmund was also a humanitarian and heavily involved in Muncie's civic activities. He was chair of Muncie's park board and the city's planning commission. He served on several other boards that included traction companies and banks, Muncie's hospital, and Hillsdale College. Edmund and his wife, Bertha, donated funds to renovate property on Tippecanoe Lake in Kosciusko County, Indiana, for a Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) boys' camp. He was also a member of the Universalist church and a Scottish Rite Mason.[18][19][20]

Frank C. Ball

Frank Clayton Ball (November 24, 1857 – March 19, 1943)[11] was a cofounder of the Ball family business with his brother Edmund. Born in Greensburg, Ohio, Frank grew up in Ohio and upstate New York. He attended public schools and Canandaigua Academy.[12] He became company president in 1888 and served in that capacity for fifty five years. Frank was "a born leader" as well as "a strong, dynamic, and shrewd businessman."[13] Like his brothers, Frank took an interest in the public affairs of the Muncie community. He was president of the Muncie and Portland Traction Company, the Muncie and Western Railroad Company, and the Muncie YMCA. He also served as director the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, among his other activities in business and civic organizations. Frank was a Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Universalist church.[23]

Frank married Elizabeth Wolfe Brady in 1893. They had five children, three daughters and two sons.[23]

George A. Ball

George Alexander Ball (November 5, 1862 – October 22, 1955),[11] youngest of the Ball brothers, was born in Trumball County, Ohio, and grew up in upstate New York. He attended public schools and Canandaigua Academy.[12] George's interest in his brothers' glass manufacturing company was quickly identified after its inception; he joined the family business in 1883, at the age of twenty-one. George rose through the ranks in the family business. He worked as a bookkeeper and went on to become the corporation's secretary, treasurer, vice president, president, and board chairman.[13] In the 1930s George became a partner in a railroad empire that also included steamship lines, grain elevators, bus and truck lines, coal mines, and a fruit orchard in Georgia.[15] In addition, he served on the boards of organizations that included Borg Warner, Nickel Plate Railroad, several banking institutions, Indiana University, Ball State Teachers College (which became Ball State University), and Ball Memorial Hospital, among others. George was also active in politics, serving as a

Manufacturing business

Frank and Edmund Ball founded the Ball brothers' manufacturing business in 1880 in Buffalo, New York. Three other brothers (William, Lucius, and George) soon joined the family business. In 1887–88 the brothers moved their manufacturing operations to Muncie, Indiana, where the firm would be closer to an abundant natural gas supply. As the brothers' company continued to prosper and expand, it became especially well known for its glass canning jars, but diversified into other industries. Beginning in the 1950s, the Ball Corporation entered the aerospace sector, and later became a global manufacturer of plastic and metal food and beverage containers.[10][28]

Philanthropy

Due to the financial success of the Ball Corporation, the Ball brothers amassed considerable personal wealth and became influential men in Muncie's political and civic affairs. The Ball brothers made a number of philanthropic contributions to support the needs of the community and foster the city's growth, which included working with nonprofit agencies to provide aid to local and regional residents. The Ball Brothers Foundation, established in 1926, further expanded the impact of their philanthropic efforts. Eleven years later, in 1937, the George and Frances Ball Foundation was established to further the family's philanthropic efforts within Muncie and other locales of interest to the family.

Over the years the Ball brothers made financial contributions to establish or strengthen an abundance of institutions: the local branches of the YMCA and the YWCA, the Masonic Temple auditorium, the Art Museum at Ball State, Ball Memorial Hospital, Ball State University, and Minnetrista, Muncie's cultural center, and assisted other groups.[22][29]

Ball Brothers Foundation

Grants from the Ball Brothers Foundation are awarded to organizations that demonstrate "better practices" or strive toward "best practice designation" in conducting their business and have continued interests in improving the quality of life for citizens of Indiana.[40] The foundation looks to fund innovation, programs that are just starting, and companies going through expansion.[40]

Honors and tributes

In 1929 Edmund Ball's wife and children commissioned Cyrus Edwin Dallin to create a bronze casting of his original 1908 sculpture, Appeal to the Great Spirit. The replica was erected in Muncie in 1929 and donated to the city.[41]

In September 1937 a bronze sculpture named Beneficence was installed on the Ball State University campus in Muncie to honor the Ball brothers' contribution to the community. The five columns of Indiana limestone that surround the sculpture represent the five Ball brothers.[30]

However, despite all their contributions to the community, the pervasive influence of the Ball family on local politics and social issues was looked at rather skeptically, if not sneeringly, by the authors of the landmark Middletown studies, published in two volumes, 1929 and 1937.

Further reading

External links

• Minnetrista Heritage Collection
• Ball Corporation.com: "Our Company History"
• Ball State University Libraries: Archives & Special Collections