American Hardware Corporation.

New Britain, Connecticut, established its dominance as the center of American hardware manufacturing as early as the late 1700s. Blacksmith shops provided a multitude of goods, including nails, hinges, locks and keys that were distributed by traveling peddlars to the farms and small towns of early America. By the mid-1800s entrepreneurs formed factories to better produce goods that were in increased demand.

The Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company originated in 1839 when H.E. Russell, Cornelius B. Erwin, and Frederick T. Stanley formed a partnership to produce locks and builders' hardware, under the name of Stanley, Russell & Company . When Mr. Stanley withdrew from the partnership in 1840, Smith Matteson and John H. Bowen were added, changing the name of the company to Matteson, Russell & Company . In 1846, with the death of Mr. Matteson and the expiration of the partnership terms, the company's name changed to Russell & Erwin . In 1851 the partnership was reorganized as a joint stock company and was from that time known as Russell & Erwin Manufacturing Company, until its merger with P.& F. Corbin in 1902. Cornelius Erwin served as president of the company from 1851 until his death in 1885. The company is best known as the pioneer of the wrought steel lock industry.

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