The American Can Company was a manufacturer of

tin can A steel can, tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English), steel packaging, or can is a container for the distribution or storage of goods, made of thin metal. Many cans re ...

s. It was a member of the Tin Can Trust, that controlled a "large percentage of business in the United States in tin cans, containers, and packages of tin." American Can Company ranked 97th among United States corporations in the value of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

military production contracts. During its peak of productivity, the American Can Company employed up to 800 people from the surrounding neighborhoods. It was a member of the

Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), Dow Jones, or simply the Dow (), is a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity inde ...

from 1959–1991, though after 1987 it had renamed itself

Primerica Primerica, Inc. (NYSE: PRI) is a company that provides insurance, investment and financial services to middle income families in the United States and Canada. Primerica is the parent company of National Benefit Life Insurance Company, Prime ...

, a financial conglomerate which had divested itself of its packaging arm in 1986. Primerica, after it was merged with

Sanford I. Weill Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill (; born March 16, 1933) is an American banker, financier and philanthropist. He is a former chief executive and chairman of Citigroup. He served in those positions from 1998 until October 1, 2003, and April 18, 2006, re ...

's Commercial Credit Company, would form the basis of what would become

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

. The American Can Company had its headquarters at the

Pershing Square Building The Pershing Square Building, also known as 125 Park Avenue or 100 East 42nd Street, is a 25-story office building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the eastern side of Park Avenue between 41st and 42nd streets, across fro ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

until 1970, when it moved into a

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

facility, which had been developed on of wooded land in the late 1960s. In the early 1980s American Can renamed itself and ended its operations in Greenwich.

History

The American Can Company was incorporated in 1901. In 1904, the American Can Company of Greenwich, Connecticut bought the small Norton Can Company that had operated since 1887 at York and Bay Streets (Toronto, Ontario). The company expanded further in 1908 when it bought the Sanitary Can Company of Niagara Falls and the Acme Can Works in Montreal. For many years, the American Can Company was Canada’s largest producer of tin cans In 1957,

Dixie cup A paper cup is a disposable cup made out of paper and often lined or coated with plastic or wax to prevent liquid from leaking out or soaking through the paper. It may be made of recycled paper and is widely used around the world. History Pap ...

merged with the American Can Company. The

James River Corporation James River Corporation was an American pulp and paper company based in Richmond, Virginia, once the largest paper manufacturer in the world. History The company was founded in 1969 as the James River Paper Company by Brenton Halsey and Robert Wi ...

of Virginia purchased American Can's paper business in 1982. The assets of James River are now part of Georgia-Pacific, a subsidiary of

Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in the ...

, the second largest privately owned company in the United States. In 1985,

Nelson Peltz Nelson Peltz (born June 24, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman and investor. He is a founding partner, together with Peter W. May and Edward P. Garden, of Trian Fund Management, an alternative investment management fund based in New Yor ...

's New York-based Triangle Industries bought the National Can Company for $460 million. The same year, it acquired the

Dunham's Sports Dunham's Sports is an American sporting goods retail chain owned by Dunham's Athleisure Corporation, with stores located in the Midwestern to Southeastern United States. The chain specializes in athletic equipment, clothing, firearms, and other ...

athletic store chain and made it part of its retail sector, which also included

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and

Fingerhut Fingerhut is an American catalog/ online retailer. Fingerhut was founded in 1948 by William Fingerhut and his brother Manny, selling automobile seat covers. In 1952, the business repositioned itself as a mail order catalog company and diversif ...

. In 1986, it acquired the packaging division of

Gerald Tsai Gerald Tsai Jr. (; March 10, 1929 – July 9, 2008) was a billionaire investor and philanthropist who helped build Fidelity Investments into a mutual fund powerhouse. After starting Fidelity Investments' first publicly sold aggressive growth fund ...

's American Can Company for $570 million. In 1987 American Can announced that it would change its 86-year-old name to "

". In 1988, Pechiney S.A., the French metal conglomerate, acquired Triangle Industries. At the time of the buyout, American National Can was the largest can company in the United States.

Rexam Rexam plc was a British-based multinational consumer packaging company headquartered in London, England. After spending much of its life as a paper producer known as Bowater, it diversified and became a leading manufacturer of beverage cans. It ...

acquired American National Can`s metal can business in 2000. American Can was formed as Phoenix Can commenced upon a Mergers and Acquisition program to consolidate competitors and named the newly created entity American Can.

Facilities

* Arlington, Texas * Carson, California *Dade City, Florida *

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

Fairport, New York Fairport is a village located in the Town of Perinton, which is part of Monroe County, New York, United States. Fairport is a suburb east of Rochester. It is also known as the "Crown Jewel of the Erie Canal". In 2005, it was named as one of t ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Brisbane, California Brisbane (pron. , unlike Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) is a small city located in California in the northern part of San Mateo County on the lower slopes of San Bruno Mountain. It is located on the southern border of San Francisco, on the ...

* Chatham, Ontario *

Fair Lawn, New Jersey Fair Lawn is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, and a bedroom suburb located northwest of New York City. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 34,940, which constituted a 7.7% increase from 32, ...

Geneva, New York Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake; all land portions of the city are within Ontario County; the water portions are in Seneca County. The population was 13, ...

*Greensboro, North Carolina *

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the ...

* Hillside, New Jersey *

Edison, New Jersey Edison is a township located in Middlesex County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan Valley region, Edison is a commercial hub, home to Menlo Park Mall and Little India. It ...

* Dayton, New Jersey *

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Lemoyne, Pennsylvania *

Lubec, Maine Lubec ( ) is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. It is the easternmost municipality in the contiguous U.S. (see extreme points of the United States) and is the country's closest continental location to Africa. The town, with a ...

*Milwaukee, Wisconsin *Montreal, Quebec * Needham Heights, Massachusetts *New Orleans, Louisiana *

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

*Pevely, Missouri *

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

*Portland, Oregon *Richmond, Virginia *Saint Louis, Missouri *Sacramento, California *Saint Paul, Minnesota *San Francisco, California
San Jose, California
*Seattle, Washington * Shelbyville, Tennessee *

Simcoe, Ontario Simcoe is an unincorporated community and former town in Southwestern Ontario, Canada near Lake Erie. It is the county seat and largest community of Norfolk County. Simcoe is at the junction of Highway 3, at Highway 24, due south of Brantford ...

*Vancouver, British Columbia *Honolulu, Hawaii *

Washington, New Jersey Washington is a borough in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 6,461,Primerica Primerica, Inc. (NYSE: PRI) is a company that provides insurance, investment and financial services to middle income families in the United States and Canada. Primerica is the parent company of National Benefit Life Insurance Company, Prime ...

References

External links

* * * {{Librivox author , id=16607 Former components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Citigroup Primerica American companies established in 1901 Greenwich, Connecticut Canned food Manufacturing companies established in 1901 1901 establishments in New York City