01/23/2025
For Throw Back Thursday....
In 1900, to remove its dependence on other companies, Waterbury Manufacturing established its own rolling mill, the Chase Rolling Mill Company, producing sheet brass and wire.
As the company flourished, their consumption of brass increased and a second mill was needed. Around 1910, Henry Chase purchased 25 acres of flat land in Waterville along the Naugatuck River, an ideal location for a new brass mill. The Chase Metal Works factory was constructed there and began operations in 1912. It was connected to the Chase Rolling Mill by a private railway line. The Metal Works facility grew quickly. The Naugatuck River was moved to make room for an expansion of the factory in 1914.
One symbol of Chase during this era, and something of a tourist attraction in Waterbury, was its team of Percheron horses used for hauling cordwood from forests in Kent, coal from the Freight Street railway station, and heavy loads from the Waterville plant to the mill on North Main Street. At their height of use, Chase had close to 350 horses, typically used in eight-horse hitches, but they also had a 24-horse team and a 40-horse team. In 1913, after a trolley railway for freight and passenger service connected the Waterville Chase Metal Works to the mill on North Main Street, the horses were sold to the Barnum & Bailey circus. At least one of Chase’s horse team drivers, Jim Thomas, joined Barnum & Bailey to drive the horse teams for the circus.
The different companies owned and operated by the Chase family were merged in 1913 to form the Chase Companies, Incorporated. Chase took full control of the Noera Manufacturing Company, maker of oil cans, tire pumps and grease guns, in 1924. Chase had purchased Noera in 1909, but the company’s founder, Frank D. Noera “king of the oil can”, remained in charge until his retirement.
The Chase Companies prospered in the 1920s. In 1921, they opened warehouses in strategic cities around the country for national distribution of their brass and copper products. In 1927, Chase acquired the U.T. Hungerford Brass & Copper Company of New York. Construction of a new factory in Cleveland, Ohio began in 1928. The new brass factory, Chase’s third, served the mid-west market, producing a general line of brass and copper rod and tube.
In May 1929, Chase was acquired by Kennecott Corporation, the largest copper producer in the world. The Chase family retained control of their company, which had an estimated value of about $40 million. Kennecott’s value at the time of the merger was about $750 million. Their consolidation was heralded as creating a strong competitor of Anaconda. Like Anaconda, Kennecott sought to secure a fabricator of their copper. In 1929, Kennecott was producing about 80,000,000 pounds of copper every month, while Chase was consuming about 5,000,000 pounds of copper every month, with plans to double production in 1930, following the construction of the new factory in Cleveland. The Wall Street Journal (May 23, 1929) speculated that Kennecott would need to either increase Chase’s production or acquire additional subsidiaries for a consumption of at least 40,000,000 pounds of their copper every month. In 1933, Chase and Kennecott acquired the Erskine Copper Radiator Corporation. (From the Waterbury Observer)
