Ames Manufacturing Company

Ames Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of metal tools and cutlery, as well as an iron and bronze foundry. They were a major provider of side arms, swords, light artillery, and heavy ordnance for the Union in the American Civil War. Founded in the late 1700s by the Ames family, brothers Nathan P. Ames Jr. and James T. Ames moved the business from Chelmsford in 1829 to a town near Springfield, Massachusetts that became Chicopee in 1848. During the Civil War, the company produced swords in Springfield, Cabotville, and Chicopee. The sword manufacturing business was separated into an independent company in 1881 and the foundries were purchsed by A.G. Spalding Company in 1907.