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".Ball Mason Jars , Mason Jars Headquarters 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 . 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.
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. 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.
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 Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan.Haimbaugh, v. 2, p. 80. Their uncle, George Harvey Ball, who shared the Ball family dedication to higher education, founded Keuka College in upstate New York in 1890. When their father became ill, the Ball brothers "found a friend and confidant" in their uncle. After the boys' father died in 1878, Uncle George provided financial support and some measure of stability.Haimbaugh, v. 2, p. 82. Later in life, after the Ball brothers had become wealthy businessmen, they became benefactors to their uncle's college.
The surviving Ball family homes are preserved in the Minnetrista Boulevard Historic District:
HouseBall BrotherMarriedChildrenL.L. Ball homeLucius Lorenzo Ball (1850–1932)In 1893 to Sarah Rogers (1857–1935)HelenMaplewoodWilliam Charles Ball (1852–1921)In 1890 to Emma Wood (1855–1942)WilliamNeboshamEdmund Burke Ball (1855–1925)In 1903 to Bertha Crosley (1875–1957)Edmund, Clinton, Adelia, JaniceMinnetristaFrank Clayton Ball (1857–1943)In 1893 to Elizabeth Wolfe Brady (1867–1944)(Edmund) Arthur, Lucina, Margaret, Frank, RosemaryOakhurstGeorge Alexander Ball (1862–1955)In 1893 to Frances Woodworth (1872–1958)Elisabeth
Lucius L. Ball Lucius Lorenzo Ball (March 29, 1850 – July 22, 1932),Barbara Quigley, "The Ball Brothers" in 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.Haimbaugh, v. 2, p. 668.
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.Quigley, "The Ball Brothers", p. 15.Haimbaugh, v. 2, pp. 664–65. In addition to becoming a shareholder and serving on the board of the Ball brothers' manufacturing company, Lucius practiced medicine in the Muncie community. He was a member of the Scottish Rite and the Universalist church. Lucius also retained memberships in national and state medical societies and served as medical adviser to the Western Reserve Life Insurance Company.
Lucius married Sarah Rogers in 1893; they relocated from Buffalo to Muncie the following year. The couple had one daughter. Lucius remained a resident of Muncie for thirty years. In the mid-1990s, following the restoration of Oakhurst, George's home, Lucius's residence was renovated to serve as an orientation center for the Oakhurst mansion and its gardens.Boomhower, p. 48.
William C. Ball William Charles Ball (August 13, 1852 – April 30, 1921) 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. William was a Ball company salesman and served as the corporation's secretary. 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.Haimbaugh, v. 2, 648.
William and his wife, Emma Wood, had one son. Their home in Muncie was a red brick Georgian design that they named Maplewood. Designed by John Scudder Adkins and completed in 1898, it was built on Ball family property just east of Oakhurst, George's home. William died at the age of sixty-nine.
Edmund B. Ball Edmund Burke Ball (October 27, 1855 – March 8, 1925) 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. 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.Haimbaugh, v. 2, p. 83.Edmonds and Geelhoed, p. 51.
Edmund married Bertha Crosley on October 7, 1903, in Indianapolis. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. In 1904 Edmund hired Marshall S. Mahurin, a Fort Wayne, Indiana, architect to design his Gothic-Revival style home in Muncie.Boomhower, p. 46. The family's home, named Nebosham, was completed in 1907 and served as their residence for fifty years. Following Edmund's death, $3.3 million in assets from his estate were used to establish the Ball Brothers Foundation. In 1975 the Ball Foundation donated Nebosham to the Ball State University Foundation for use as a continuing education facility. It was named the E. B. and Bertha C. Ball Center for University and Community Programs in 1986.
Frank C. Ball Frank Clayton Ball (November 24, 1857 – March 19, 1943) 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. 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." 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.Haimbaugh, v. 2, p. 27.
Frank married Elizabeth Wolfe Brady in 1893. They had five children, three daughters and two sons. In 1893–94 Frank bought approximately of land along the north bank of the White River, outside Muncie, where he built a home designed by Indianapolis architect Louis Gibson. Frank's nineteen-room mansion, named Minnetrista, was the first Ball family home to be built on the site along Minnetrista Boulevard. The home, completed in 1895, was destroyed by fire in 1967. Minnetrista, Muncie's cultural arts center, was built on the site of his former home.Boomhower, pp. 44–45.
George A. Ball George Alexander Ball (November 5, 1862 – October 22, 1955), 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. 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. 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. 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 Republican national committeeman from Indiana. He was a Freemason, a Rotary Club member, and joined the Presbyterian church.Haimbaugh, v. 2, p. 668–69.
George married to Frances Woodworth in Buffalo in 1893.Haimbaugh, v. 2, p. 669. The couple had one daughter, Elisabeth, born on December 26, 1897. Elisabeth, who never married, lived in her parents' home until her death on April 29, 1982, at the age of eighty-four. Oakhurst, the family's shingle-style residence, was built in 1895, becoming the second of the Ball brothers' homes to be erected on the family property in Muncie. Indianapolis architect Louis Gibson designed the estate home on Minnetrista Boulevard. At the time of its construction the three-story residence stood on approximately of land.Boomhower, pp. 44–46. George died in 1955 at the age of ninety-two. The Ball Brothers Foundation deeded his home and its grounds to the Minnetrista cultural center, restoring it in 1990.
Aside from his business interests, George was a collector of children's literature, a hobby he shared with his daughter. In 1964 Elisabeth Ball donated a part of their collection to the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. Following her death in 1982, other books that she and her father had collected were donated to the Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and the Bracken Library at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
Manufacturing business