Apr 27, 2021
On this episode of the Resistance Library Podcast, Sam and Dave
talk about the forgotten history of Winchester Repeating Arms’
iconic founder, Oliver Winchester. Winchester was born in Boston,
Massachusetts, on November 30, 1810. While his life is largely
indistinguishable from his career as a gun manufacturer, it’s 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 men’s 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.
You can read the full article “Oliver
Winchester: The Forgotten History of Winchester Repeating Arms'
Iconic Founder” at Ammo.com.
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