Hay Budden

 

Hay Budden Anvils

 

Overview

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History of Hay-Budden Anvils

 

One of the most common anvils in the United States even 100 years after the company shut down Hay-Budden anvils have been used by generations of blacksmiths. Over the course of the companies life from 1893 through 1925 they produced around 307,000 anvils that were shipped around the world.

Hay Budden 1890 – Likely a representation of the shop on Frost Street before they started manufacturing anvils.

Hay-Budden had its start in 1890 at 53-55 Frost Street in Brooklyn, one block from the American Wrought Anvil Co. located at Frost & Union, when James Hay, a Scotsman, and Frederick Budden, an Englishman, started a small shop employing a crew of 17.  It seems extremely likely that James Hay and Frederick Budden would have known the smiths that John Murcott, the founder of American Wrought Anvil Co., brought from England including Thomas Williams.  

Hay Budden 1895 – The initial building on North Henry St.

The McKinley Tariff Bill of 1890 introduced a tariff on anvils and made the production of anvils in the United States profitable for the first time.  In 1893 with the chance to make a profit on the manufacture of anvils and the expertise of English anvil makers from the nearby American Wrought Anvil Co. Hay & Budden teamed up with Walter F. Ring to start manufacturing of anvils. They incorporated “The Hay-Budden Manufacturing Company”  with an initial investment of $20,000 and raised an additional $20,000 in 1894, allowing Hay-Budden to purchase land between North Henry & Monitor street and the construct several buildings.  

By October 1896 they were advertising Solid Wrought Anvils with a pattern targeted to General Blacksmiths and one designed for Farriers.

These advertisements highlighted one of the major improvements introduced by Hay-Budden which was welding on a single solid steel faceplate to the anvil instead of building up the faceplate from multiple sections.

Hay-Budden, and other US anvil manufactures, were heavily impacted by the ongoing tariff rates for anvils and continually pushed the US congress to keep tariffs high.  

The McKinley Tariff Bill (1890) raised the duty on anvils from 2c/lb to 2.5c/lb cents per pound.  Hay-Budden was able to price their anvils about 1/4 of a cent below the highest priced imported anvils.

In 1894 the Wilson-Gorman Tarrif Act passed lowering the duty from 2.5c/lb to 1.75c/lb.  This necessitated  Hay-Budden to reduce their price by .5c/lb to remain competitive.  We can see in a list of anvil prices from October 16th 1895 that Hay-Budden is pricing their anvils between 9.75-10.25c/lb.  Peter Wright one of the largest importers of anvils was priced at 10-10.25c/lb.  Hay-Budden argued, unsuccessfully, that the duty should be raised back to 2.5c/lb. promising to employee an additional 250 men if the tariff is raised.

In October 1898 Hay-Budden had a 100 foot spot at the Omaha World’s Fair where they (or at least planned to) show off an anvil weighing 1 ton and another the size of a thimble.  Around the same time, 1899, Hay-Budden also made and distributed small sliver plated anvils to the delegates of a meeting of The Master Horseshoers’ Protective Association.  

Hay Budden 1905 – Rebuilt Hay Budden facilities which are still standing.

On Saturday March 3rd at about 7pm a fire broke out in the Hay-Budden manufacturing buildings. Everyone, except a watchman, had left by 4:30pm that day and by the time the fire was put out the entire set of buildings had burned down causing roughly $150,000 dollars in damage.

This fire though hardly slowed down the work at Hay-Budden. It’s reported that the rebuilding started “literally before the ruins had cooled off”. While the rebuilding was taking place the anvil makers worked throughout the summer and fall in the open air. By 1901 the new building was completed a much improved iron building. 

This map from 1904-1912 shows the size and scale of the anvil manufacturing facility. The building is bounded on the west by Monitor street and North Henry Street on the east. 

The primary buildings are still standing and in use though the secondary buildings seem to have been torn down.

By 1901it was claimed that Hay-Budden was the largest manufacturer of anvils in the world. Hay-Budden had produced some 60,000+ anvils ranging in size from 10 to 800lbs and employed ~300 men making 125 tons of anvils every month. These anvils were produced for a domestic and international market with anvils being shipped to  Australia, Asia, Africa, South America, China, India, and Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

254-278 North Henry Street – 1912

Brooklyn, Vol. 3, Double Page Plate No. 15;

Timeline:

Known Employees 

  • 1890 – James Hay – President
  • 1890 – Fredrick C. Budden – Junior Partner
  • 1893 – Walter F. Ring – Treasurer
  • 1893-1899 – Thomas William – Suspected but not confirmed. 
  • 1900 – John Johnson – Employed as a watchman. On duty during the 1900 fire.
  • 1906 – John Neal – Knocked down by a furnace door and sustained scalp wounds.
  • 1907 – James McClellan – Employed on the first floor. Iron fell from the second floor onto him.
  • 1907 – John F. Walsh – Employee who died from unspecified causes.
  • 1908 – John Auger – Hand amputated after steam hammer accident. 
  • 1917 – James P. Judge – Vice President and Director in Hay-Budden
Resources:
  1.  

Identification

Identification Text

Hay-Budden Serial Numbers

From Anvils in America

Date +/- 2 years Serial Number Notes Date +/- 2 years Serial Number Notes
1892 1-3,000   1909 160,001-170,000  
1893 3,001-9,000   1910

170,001-180,000

  
1894 9001-16,000   1911 180,001-190,000  
1895 16,001-23,000   1912 190,001-200,000  
1896 23,001-30,000   1913 200,001-210,000  
1897 30,001-37,000   1914 210,001-220,000  
1898 37,001-42,000   1915 220,001-230,000  
1899 42,001-50,000   1916 230,001-243,000  
1900 50,001-60,000   1917 243,001-250,000  
1901 60,001-75,000 Ad states over 60,000 in use. 1918 A1-A12,000  
1902 75,001-82,000   1919 A12,001-A20,000  
1903 82,001-89,000   1920 A20,001-A30,000  
1904 89,001-96,000   1921 A30,001-A40,000  
1905 96,001-109,000   1922 A40,001-A50,000  
1906 109,001-125,000   1923 A50,001-A54,000  
1907 125,001-150,000   1924 A54,001-A56,000  
1908 150,001-160,000   1925 A56,001-A57,000  
           

List of Hay Budden Anvils

ID Date Notes Images
NA NA Mini Anvil NA
    Small anvils  

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