The Gate Begat a Tray: The Contract That Led to the Birth of the Hammered Aluminum Industry

Abstract

In 1946, Alcoa ran a series of advertisements titled, "How Another Small Business Took Root in Aluminum" with one full-page ad proclaiming that "The Gate Begat a Tray; The Tray Begat a Business." It pictured the first hand-hammered aluminum tray along with the Alcoa Research Laboratory entrance gates. It began, "You couldn’t exactly say the architect launched the business…nor two blacksmiths who made some gates…nor the department store executive who sparked to an idea…and we of Alcoa were merely building a building. But in Grove City, PA, there’s a thriving company that owes its existence to the part each of these played." The ads also proclaim Wendell August Forge to be the first company in the aluminum giftware business.