Milestones Icon: Ball Corp.

Glass jars, aluminum cans and satellites might seem like a curious product line, but those are the products that made the Ball Corp., a household name.

The company, which is based in Broomfield, is the largest producer of recyclable beverage cans in the world. It also produces containers for food and aerosol products, and, through its subsidiary Ball Aerospace & Technologies, satellites for NASA and the military.

Ironically, Ball likely is best known for a product it no longer makes.

Ball became a household name toward the end of the 19th century, when it began manufacturing resealable glass jars known as Mason jars. The jars were used for canning and preserving food, and Ball was one of the best-known manufacturers.

Ball Corp. was founded in 1880 in Buffalo, New York, by Frank and Edmund Ball. In 1887, Ball built a major glass works in Muncie, Indiana, and it soon relocated there.

Jars were needed to preserve food, especially fruit, in the days before refrigeration, although they have been repurposed to store knickknacks, serve as flower pots or neat beverage containers.

Ball no longer makes glass jars, but it licenses its name to a company that does. Ball still receives dozens of calls a year from collectors looking for more jars or lids or to inquire about the value of their collections.

Ball extended its expertise to metal can manufacturing after buying a plant in Golden in 1969.

Ball moved its corporate headquarters to Broomfield in 1998. It now occupies a building on the southern edge of the city, just outside the Interlocken business park.

The decision to leave Muncie was a tough one. The company had deep ties in the community – Ball State University, a 21,000-student public university in Muncie was named to honor the Ball family for its contributions to the school.

The move ultimately had to do with geography and employee recruitment and retention. The company had an increasing number of facilities, labs and manufacturing plants in the West, including those of Ball Aersopace & Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary.

Unlike other companies that relocated to Broomfield in the 1990s, Ball decided against building a large headquarters building or corporate campus. Instead it has leased several buildings in Boulder and Westminster near the main office.

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