ROME, N.Y. — As Americans anticipate our country’s 250th birthday, a Central New York copper company is celebrating its 225th. It’s a 25-year difference, but just as patriotic: it can trace its lineage back to one of the American Revolution’s most iconic figures.
Rome is the home of Revere Copper Products – yes, as in Paul Revere. Kids in American schools learn about Revere as the “midnight rider,” the guy who rode his horse on the night British troops were sailing down the Charles River before the battles of Lexington and Concord, the spark of the war for independence. But Revere also engraved his name in the history books as a copper titan.
In 1801, he founded the first copper rolling mill in North America in Canton, Massachusetts. Copper rolling involves rolling large blocks into thin sheets, which Revere sheathed onto the bottoms of American ships to protect them from accruing barnacles. The ships could sail faster – just as fast as their British competitors.
Revere Copper moved its headquarters to Rome in the 1920s. During World War II, 60% of its copper went to the U.S. Navy, which used it to fortify its ships against German U-boats…