A Brief History of Ball Mason Jars

Ball Corporation was all started by 5 brothers living in Buffalo, New York in 1880. With a $200 loan from their uncle, the brothers founded the Wooden Jacket Can Company and started manufacturing tin cans encased in wooden jackets. Eventually they realized they needed to look for an alternative to tin because of corrosion issues. Glass was the obvious choice, and in1884 they began producing the glass home canning jars that made Ball a household name.

In 1992 the Kerr glass plants, along with the rights to the Kerr trademark,were acquired by the Ball Corporation, later spun off it's canning jar business into what would ultimately be known as Jarden Home Brands which owns the Ball, Kerr, Bernardin, and Golden Harvest. In 2016Jarden was acquired byNewell Brands, which continues to use the Ball registered trademark on its line of home-canning products.

Ball Corporation no longer makes glass canning jars but manufactures plastic and metal food and beverage containers. Ball Corporation also manufactures equipment and supplies services to the aerospace industry.