About – Waterbury Button Company

About Us

From Five-Star Generals to Gold-Button Blazers

Since 1812, we’ve crafted the world’s most popular metal buttons. When General Ulysses S. Grant met General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse, both men wore Waterbury buttons on their chests. Today we make buttons for the fashion industry, professional golf, rowing blazers and every branch of the U.S. Armed Forces as well as across the globe.

With more than 40,000 button patterns in our vault, The Waterbury Button Company can supply you with the perfect button, whether you’re a high-fashion designer, a garment maker in the retail apparel trade or a uniform manufacturer.

Fashion designers prefer Waterbury buttons for their distinctive designs, detail and range of finishes. We can give your career apparel uniform a distinctive look of timeless quality with standard or customized Waterbury buttons.

After the War of 1812, our company was retained to make the metal buttons for all branches of the U.S. Military forces because of our demonstrated ability to reliably deliver the highest quality products. These same abilities brought in contracts from around the world.

Our company has never lost those incredible attributes of reliability and consistent high quality. As a result, we are the oldest metal button manufacturer in the United States and continue to operate out of Connecticut. We continue to make metal buttons for our global clients like the fashion houses of rag & bone, Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers. Additionally, we make the buttons for Disney Cruise Line, the Masters Golf Tournament, and most every railroad, state police department, and fire department across the United States.

You can read through Our History below or Help us write the next chapter.
Contact us or call us at 1-800-928-1812.

Over 200 Years of History

1812

The United States of America goes to war with England. Soldiers and sailors needed uniform buttons, but England would no longer supply them. Near Waterbury, CT, Aaron Benedict bought up every brass kettle, pan and pot he could find and established a rolling mill to make buttons for the US armed forces. When Benedict ran out of brass, he turned to pewter.

From 1824

The company gained a partner with Gordon Burnham and was known at times as Benedict & Coe, Benedict & Burnham and Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Co. During this time, the company increased both its production volume and variety as it produced copper and copper alloys, door handles, furniture knobs, safety pins, rivets, bolt hinges, lamp burners, insulated electric wire and copper wire for telegraph lines.

1878

The TRIUMPH Burner by Benedict & Burnham. J.G. Hallas’ patent #208,309, September, 24, 1878.

1849

The plastics industry is born with Shellac and The Waterbury Button Company pioneers making products out of shellac, the first plastic material molded in this country. The company uses a hand press to produce plastic buttons, checkers and dominoes. It continues to expand its line of metal goods as well.

1861-1865

The United States are ripped asunder by Civil War, but Union troops and Confederate troops wear Waterbury buttons. The South uses intermediaries in Europe to obtain Waterbury buttons for its troops.

1870

The Waterbury Button Company undertakes production of a new material. Lustrous buttons made of celluloid fill a fashion trend.

1890’s

The company rides a toy craze of the “Gay ’90s”, when an intricate metal toy, the “Climbing Monkey”, becomes so popular that the company must turn out 3 million a year.

1912

When the Titanic sailed in 1912, the crew of the White Star Line wore Waterbury buttons on their double-breasted coats.

1917

The United States enters World War I and The Waterbury Button Company becomes the primary supplier of uniform buttons for the armed forces.

1920s

The company is heavily involved in the toy business, manufacturing aluminum toys such as airplanes, candy banks, zeppelins and tractors. It also makes and sells the “Oracle V” radio under its own name.

1925

The Waterbury Button Company is among the first manufacturers to mold a new plastic called Bakelite into buttons. Bakelite proves to be ideal for electrical parts, and the company molds articles for the electrical industry.

1929

Operating under the name of “Multiplane Aircraft Corp.” The Waterbury Button Company built an experimental aircraft called the “Multiplane”. It was powered by a Curtis Challenger engine manufactured by Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company.

1938

After extensive research and engineering, The Waterbury Button Company develops the first optically correct injection-molded plastic lens. The discovery proves fortuitous, for more than 500,000 of these lenses are produced and used in U.S. Navy gas masks during World War II.

1939

“Gone With The Wind”, one of the most eagerly awaited and storied Hollywood films in history, opens in Atlanta, Georgia. Actors playing Confederate and Union solders wear costumes bearing authentic buttons specially produced for the epic movie by The Waterbury Button Company.

1941-1945

Wartime demands lead to rapid expansion. The Waterbury Button Company makes a range of products for the Allied forces, from buttons to bomb fuses. The company changes its name to Waterbury Companies, Inc., to reflect its diversified product lines.

1945

New techniques in powdered metallurgy led the company into sintered products. Among the first products are the World War II Victory Medal and the Merchant Marine Medal.

1946

As the United State exhales after World War II, the company begins pressing vinyl phonograph records for children.

1948

Laundry tubs, breadboxes, lamp shades and ice containers are among the many antibiotic products the company begins to make with fiberglass-reinforced plastics.

1950

With the introduction of its “Dialer-Magnifier” letter opener, the company breaks into the advertising specialty field, a strong line to this day.

1960-1991

Expansion and acquisitions lead the Waterbury Companies into the fields of air filtration and freshening, pest control and cleaning products.

1994

The Waterbury Companies acquire the non-realty of the Ball & Socket Manufacturing Company, formerly the Cheshire Button Company. Ball & Socket’s major presence in the mid- and low-fashion markets ushers Waterbury buttons into those markets.

1997

Hollywood calls again: The crew of the ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic, part of the White Star Line, wore Waterbury buttons. The company is tapped to make replicas for the costumes worn by actors playing crew members in the blockbuster movie, “Titanic”.

1999

When professional golfer Payne Stewart is killed in an airplane crash, Waterbury Companies’ button division issues a commemorative pin in his honor. The pin is based on the blazer button Waterbury Companies’ made for Stewart’s sportswear line.

2000

The button business of the Waterbury Companies was purchased by OGS Technologies, Inc., which promptly readopts the name, The Waterbury Button Company.

2003

As the United States and its allies wages its “War Against Terrorism” – OGS Technologies purchases the assets of Northeast Badge & Emblem Company and begins manufacturing badges and insignia for departments involved in Public Safety and Homeland Security.

2010

OGS Technologies purchases the assets of Cop Shop LLC and enters the retail market of supplying Public Service personnel with accessories and equipment.

2011

Northeast Badge & Emblem Company changes it name to National Badge & Emblem Company as it becomes a “buy direct from the manufacturer” supplier of badges on a national level.