Benjamin Ames Kimball - Ford & Kimball
In April of
1854 he and Theodore H. Ford together went into the foundry business
replacing a former one. They manufactured car wheels and brass and
iron castings in Concord, NH. Mr. Ford died in 1892 at which point
Mr. Kimball retired from the business. Both their son's, Jerome Ford
and Henry A. Kimball, took over the operations of the business upon his
retirement. Their business was located on South Main Street,
Concord, NH.
"Concord has long been noted for the excellence of
it's iron work, and the foundries have done their part towards the city's
growth. When William P. Ford came to Concord in 1837 there was a
small foundry situated on Warren Street, nearly opposite the Central Fire
Station, carried on by Reuben Martin and Edmund Davis, who employed a few
workmen. There Mr. Ford went to work as a moulder, and the next year
became a member of the firm under the name of Martin & Company.
In 1843 the firm was Ford & Pillsbury ( Thomas W. Pillsbury ),
and so continued until 1846, when the latter retired and Theodore H. Ford
was admitted. In 1850 the old foundry on Warren Street was abandoned
for a new building at the North End, and in 1860 the firm bought the large
plant of John D. Cooper & Company, near the tracks of the Concord
Railroad, carrying on both establishments until 1865, when the partnership
was dissolved and two new firms succeeded.
William P. Ford
retained the foundry at the North end, which became known as William P.
Ford & Company (George H. Marston), John W. Ford being
afterwards admitted, and so continued until the death of the senior
partner in 1901. The South end business was made into a partnership
consisting of Theodore H. Ford and Benjamin Ames Kimball, which continued
until 1892, when Mr. Ford dying and Mr. Kimball retiring, the present firm
of Ford & Kimball (Jerome Ford and Henry A. Kimball), sons of the
original partners, succeeded to the business.
This firm has
done a general foundry business, including brass mouldings, and has also
been a large maker of car wheels, while that of William P. Ford & Company has
confined it's work to the making of stoves, sinks and ploughs. Both firms
do a large business, giving constant employment to about fifty men."
The Granite Monthly, Vol 3, 1880
Concord in 1879, By John N. McClintock
p. XIV
Iron Foundries.
Ford & Kimball (Theodore H. Ford and Benjamin A. Kimball),
have an iron and brass foundry in the rear of their office, 66 Main street.
They were established in 1865, and employ twenty-five men at present,
manufacturing car wheels, all kinds of iron and brass castings, and iron fences.
Their weekly pay-roll is about $250. They use five hundred to six hundred
tons of iron and steel per annum, consume three hundred tons of coal in the
manufacture, and employ a forty horse power engine. Their goods find
mostly a local market.
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