Koppers Co - Baltimore, MD


Koppers Co, Bartlett-Hayward Division - Baltimore, MD This company started out in 1837 in Baltimore, Maryland, as Hayward & Friend, stovemakers. In addition to cookstoves, one of the early models produced was the Latrobe Stove, which would be recognized today as essentially a large fireplace insert, used for domestic heating.

Over the years the company's name would change many times, and in 1841 it was known as Hayward Bartlett & Company, Stovefounders, Plumbers, Architectural Iron Works, Locomotive Builders, Steam & Hot Water Works. The company built 24 locomotives between October of 1864 and January of 1867, when they discontinued production as the locomotive market became more competitive.

Pictured is an 1864 Winans Camel locomotive built by Baltimore Locomotive Works, a division of Hayward Bartlett & Company


The company shut down it's regular production during World War I to make shrapnel shells for the war effort. The company took on this role enthusiastically and was awarded by the U.S. government a Certificate of Merit "For excellence in production of time and detonating fuses and complete rounds of shrapnel". After the war, the company took on new products to keep its workforce employed, focusing at first on items for the post war building boom. It is possible that it was during this "retooling" phase that the company began making fire hydrants. However, it is also known that the company had been making iron gate valves since the turn of the century, so it may have been that fire hydrants had been manufactured earlier as well. In 1936 the company was purchased by the Koppers Company and became known as Koppers Company, Bartlett-Hayward Division. The hydrant shown below was manufactured during this period. If you have any information regarding this fire hydrant or company, please Email Us. Source for above text: Iron Men & Their Dogs, by Ferdinand C. Latrobe, 1941, Ivan R. Drechsler, publisher.
	1727 Model: (unknown) Size: 4½" V.O. Nozzles: 2x 2½", 1x 5" Dated: 1939 Location: Ohio Photo: © 2002, J. Shaw

The company shut down it's regular production during World War I to make shrapnel shells for the war effort. The company took on this role enthusiastically and was awarded by the U.S. government a Certificate of Merit "For excellence in production of time and detonating fuses and complete rounds of shrapnel". After the war, the company took on new products to keep its workforce employed, focusing at first on items for the post war building boom. It is possible that it was during this "retooling" phase that the company began making fire hydrants. However, it is also known that the company had been making iron gate valves since the turn of the century, so it may have been that fire hydrants had been manufactured earlier as well.

In 1936 the company was purchased by the Koppers Company and became known as Koppers Company, Bartlett-Hayward Division. The hydrant shown below was manufactured during this period.

If you have any information regarding this fire hydrant or company, please Email Us.

Source for above text: Iron Men & Their Dogs, by Ferdinand C. Latrobe, 1941, Ivan R. Drechsler, publisher.

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