Edwin Norton and T.G. Cranwell founded Continental Can Company in 1904 with $500,000 in startup capital. The newly formed company purchased canning machinery patents and established factories in Chicago and Syracuse, New York. They began shipping cans in April 1905. Food packing cans at the time were 98.5 percent steel with an outer coating of tin plate to prevent rusting. To assure a steady supply of tin, Continental Can bought the Standard Tin Plate Company in 1909. Initially, Continental Can Company’s production consisted of seasonal packer cans for fruits and vegetables. In 1912, the company entered the field of year-round general canning. Acquisition and diversification were largely responsible for Continental Can Company’s growth. In its first 50 years, the company purchased and absorbed 28 independent can companies.
John Fox founded Seattle-Astoria Iron Works in 1881, then known as Astoria Iron Works. The company designed and manufactured innovative machinery and tools used in the Columbia River salmon canneries. In 1906, Nelson Troyer joined Astoria Iron Works as vice president. Troyer was well known in the canning business and formerly associated with American Can Company, Continental Can’s main competitor. In 1913, Astoria Iron Works opened a large factory in Seattle at 601 Myrtle Street and became the Seattle-Astoria Iron Works.
During the 1920s, Continental Can moved its headquarters to New York and expanded rapidly by buying competing firms. In 1928, the first west coast plant was acquired in Los Angeles, and a second one opened in Seattle the following year. Continental Can Company purchased the Seattle-Astoria Iron Works in 1928 and the name was changed to Troyer-Fox Manufacturing Company. In 1932, Continental Can Company of New York dissolved Troyer-Fox Manufacturing Company and absorbed their assets.
By 1934, Continental Can was operating 38 plants in the United States and Cuba and had never experienced a money-losing year. Net income reached a new high of 10.7 million in 1934. During the Great Depression, Continental Can employed nearly 12,000 workers. Continental Can’s extensive acquisition program continued into the 1940s and it entered the business of paper and fiber containers, bottle caps and synthetic resins. In 1940, Continental Can operated three machine shops in Seattle, Chicago, and Syracuse, New York where engineers and machinists designed and built specialized equipment. Continental Can Company leased can-sealing equipment to customers and also manufactured all the machinery for their own can-making operations.
In the early 1970s, annual sales reached $2 billion and Continental Can ranked as the number one U.S. can manufacturer. In 1976, Continental Can became part of the Continental Group, a conglomerate with operations in many industries. At the end of the 1980s, the remnants of Continental Can Company were acquired by the U.S. Can Company, headquartered in Chicago.
The series of photographs consists of 8x10 black and white photographic prints depicting canning machinery, machinery parts and employees working with equipment on factory production lines. The technical booklets and manuals include machinery operating instructions, parts catalogs, schematic diagrams and blueprints of machinery. The business records consist of a 1931 Troyer-Fox organizational chart, the Continental Can Company 1940 Annual Report and a Washington Press Association information booklet about John Fox, President of Seattle-Astoria Iron Works.
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The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Collection on Continental Can Company, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
The materials were found in the collection at Everett Public Library; provenance is unknown.
Gift of Everett Public Library; received in 2003.
Due to an error in numbering, there is no item 2003.43.1. The collection begins with 2003.43.2.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Retorts are canning vessels designed for cooking and sterilizing under steam pressure.
Continental Can Co., Inc.
Caption on border: Typical salmon canning line
Continental Can Co., Inc.
Caption on border: Method of handling flattened can bodies at the Seattle can plant
Continental Can Co., Inc.
Continental Can Co., Inc.
Caption on border: New water tank at Seattle plant - looking east
Caption on border: Method of handling flattened can bodies at the Seattle can plant
Photographs of fish cleaning and flanging machines with parts labeled.
Chart showing hierarchy of employee positions within the company
Booklet with brown paper cover includes a photograph of John Fox, biographical information, and professional history up to 1918.