Today marks an important day in 2nd Amendment history. It is the birthday of Oliver Winchester founder of one of the most widely recognized names in the world of firearms.
Winchester Repeating Arms founder Oliver Winchester was born in Boston Massachusetts on November 30 1810. While his life is largely indistinguishable from his career as a gun manufacturer its worth noting that in addition to revolutionizing the American firearms market he also served as the 32nd Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut as a Republican from May 1866 to May 1867 underneath Joseph Roswell Hawley. He was also one of the great philanthropists of his time giving a lot of money in particular to Yale University which is in New Haven.
Winchester was born on the outskirts of Boston at a time when there was still farming going on in those parts. His family were penniless farmers in a hardscrabble world. He had almost nothing in the way of formal education. What he did have however was a solid amount of business sense and no shortage of gumption. He was apprenticed as a church builder but quickly began earning a tidy sum as the inventor of a new style of shirt collars for men which constituted his first patent.
Winchester began his business career making garments in New York and New Haven and selling mens furnishings in Baltimore. After years of successful business he started looking for new opportunities. Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson (you might have heard of their later endeavor Smith & Wesson Revolver Company) acquired a rifle design and improved it with the help of shop foreman Benjamin Tyler Henry (yes that Henry). In 1855 they began manufacturing the Volcanic" lever-action rifle. The company was incorporated as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company. The largest stockholder was Oliver Winchester.
Continue reading Oliver Winchester: The Forgotten History of Winchester Repeating Arms Iconic Founder at Ammo.com.
Today marks an important day in 2nd Amendment history. It is the birthday of Oliver Winchester founder of one of the most widely recognized names in the world of firearms.
Winchester Repeating Arms founder Oliver Winchester was born in Boston Massachusetts on November 30 1810. While his life is largely indistinguishable from his career as a gun manufacturer its worth noting that in addition to revolutionizing the American firearms market he also served as the 32nd Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut as a Republican from May 1866 to May 1867 underneath Joseph Roswell Hawley. He was also one of the great philanthropists of his time giving a lot of money in particular to Yale University which is in New Haven.
Winchester was born on the outskirts of Boston at a time when there was still farming going on in those parts. His family were penniless farmers in a hardscrabble world. He had almost nothing in the way of formal education. What he did have however was a solid amount of business sense and no shortage of gumption. He was apprenticed as a church builder but quickly began earning a tidy sum as the inventor of a new style of shirt collars for men which constituted his first patent.
Winchester began his business career making garments in New York and New Haven and selling mens furnishings in Baltimore. After years of successful business he started looking for new opportunities. Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson (you might have heard of their later endeavor Smith & Wesson Revolver Company) acquired a rifle design and improved it with the help of shop foreman Benjamin Tyler Henry (yes that Henry). In 1855 they began manufacturing the Volcanic" lever-action rifle. The company was incorporated as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company. The largest stockholder was Oliver Winchester.
Continue reading Oliver Winchester: The Forgotten History of Winchester Repeating Arms Iconic Founder at Ammo.com.