The Selden & Griswold Manufacturing Company, Erie, Pennsylvania

The Selden & Griswold Manufacturing Company of Erie, Pennsylvania was the predecessor to the Griswold Manufacturing Company. Many collectors consider Griswold to be the premier manufacturer of antique American cast-iron cookware, and its products are among the most sought-after pieces in the hobby.

At first glance, the company’s history appears straightforward. Griswold traced its origins to 1865 in Erie, Pennsylvania, making the history of Selden & Griswold part of its own story.

The closer one looks, however, the less straightforward the story becomes. The historical record is scattered, incomplete in places, and sometimes contradictory.

Contemporaneous sources state that Selden & Griswold was established in 1868. Yet the Griswold Manufacturing Company itself claimed that its origins dated to 1865. Who founded the business, and what was the relationship between its founders? How and when did Samuel Selden’s 1866 butt hinge patent—and the enterprise it represented—evolve into Selden & Griswold and, later, the Griswold Manufacturing Company?

Answering those questions requires following the trail back to three men—Samuel Selden, Matthew Griswold, and John Card Selden—and to a small factory in Erie, Pennsylvania known as the “Butt Factory,” located near Tenth and Chestnut Streets alongside the Erie Extension Canal.

By examining newspapers, directories, patents, company records, and later historical accounts, it is possible to reconcile many of these conflicting sources and construct a timeline of the company’s earliest years.

Timeline

Who Founded the Company?

The story of the business begins with Samuel Selden, an inventor credited with founding the enterprise that would eventually become Selden & Griswold, and later, the Griswold Manufacturing Company.¹The enterprise quickly expanded beyond its founder. Within a few months, Matthew Griswold joined Samuel in partnership, and John Card Selden became involved sometime shortly thereafter.²

A contemporary newspaper later described the company’s beginnings as follows:

The business was started originally by Mr. Samuel Selden at the corner of Twelfth and State streets in part of the plant which was later occupied by Erie City Iron Works. After a few months a partnership was formed with Matthew Griswold, and the works removed to West Tenth Street, their specialty at that time being hinges and door butts.

Erie Daily Times (evening edition) p. 1, March 27, 1903. Although published in 1903, this account is significant because it reflects the recollections of Matthew and Marvin Griswold and shop manager John Hollands. It specifically describes the sequence of events: Samuel Selden started the business, Matthew Griswold joined in partnership a few months later, and the enterprise moved to West Tenth Street where hinges and door butts became its specialty.³

The door butt “specialty”” of the business refers to Samuel Selden’s invention of a separable door butt hinge, for which he first obtained a patent in 1866.⁴ That seemingly modest invention laid the foundation for the enterprise that would eventually become one of the most respected names in American vintage and antique cast-iron cookware.

Selden Butt Hinge Patent

Samuel Selden obtained the patent for the separable door butt hinge on February 13, 1866. The patent was assigned to John Card Selden.

When Did the Business Begin?

At first glance, the documentary record appears contradictory. Contemporary publications identify 1868 as the year Selden & Griswold was established. By contrast, the Griswold Manufacturing Company stated both that the business was established in 1868, and later, repeatedly, 1865. For example:

Different types of historical records, however, often document different stages in the development of a business.

Statements made by the company itself concerning its origins deserve particular consideration because they reflect its own understanding of how and when the enterprise began. Griswold’s repeated identification of 1865 as its year of establishment carries significant weight in interpreting the company’s earliest history.

The documentary record also includes Samuel Selden’s separable door butt hinge patent, which was issued on February 13, 1866. It is reasonable to conclude that Selden began work on both the invention and the enterprise no later than 1865.⁶

Contemporary city directories, trade directories, and business listings provide another perspective. These records are especially useful in identifying when a firm first appeared publicly as an operating manufacturer, even though such publications often lagged behind the actual beginning of a business or simplified what was, in reality, a gradual process of development.

Viewed in this light, the 1865 and 1868 dates are not inconsistent. Rather, they reflect different stages in the evolution of the enterprise: 1865 marks the beginning of Samuel Selden’s work on the business and his patented invention, while 1868 marks the commencement of manufacturing operations.⁷

For collectors, this distinction matters because it places Griswold’s origins in proper historical context. Rather than springing into existence at a single moment, the company emerged through successive stages of invention, organization, and manufacturing.

The Butt Factory

Production began at the “Butt Factory,” located on the bank of the Erie Extension Canal on Tenth Street west of Chestnut Street.⁸

The earliest products included “Selden’s [Patented] Reversable Butts, Common Loose and Fast Joint Butts,” and other “light castings made to order.”⁹

As production ramped up, the line expanded to include other light hardware items, including boiler accessories.¹⁰

As the product line expanded, so too did the factory. “[B]uilding succeeded building until the plant extended to Walnut.” ¹¹

By 1873 the business was producing “shelf hardware and props,” patented mop sticks,¹² axel pulleys, “enameled cast door knobs,” “light castings to order,” and “castings in great variety, for wooden pumps.” ¹³

When did the Business Become the Selden & Griswold Mfg. Co.?

By 1869-70, the company was advertising as the Selden & Griswold Manufacturing Company.¹⁴ The company then identified itself as Selden & Griswold until 1883/84, with some exceptions.

Samuel Selden’s Death

Samuel Selden died on June 25, 1882. At that time, he was the managing partner of the company.¹⁵ Following his death, management passed to John Card Selden and Matthew Griswold.

By this time, Selden & Griswold had expanded its product line to include hollowware. Its plant had greatly expanded, and employees numbered 100.

1883 Selden & Griswold Brochure

When did Selden & Griswold transition to the Griswold Manufacturing Company?

Between the time of Samuel Selden’s death and the company starting to do business as the “Griswold Manufacturing Company,” Matthew Griswold assumed control of the business. At least one contemporary source places dissolution of Selden & Griswold in 1883, while other documentation shows that the company transitioned from doing business as Selden & Griswold to the Griswold Manufacturing Company in 1884.

John Card Selden left the business in 1883.¹⁷ The company began advertising as the Griswold Manufacturing Company “successor to” Selden & Griswold in 1884.

Selden & Griswold catalog with a handwritten date of 1885 on its cover.

Although the 1883–84 timeframe appears most consistent with the available evidence, a Selden & Griswold catalog bearing a handwritten date of 1885 on its cover presents an apparent inconsistency.¹⁸

Despite the existence of the catalog, 1883/84 remains a reasonable conclusion for the transition of the company from doing business as Selden & Griswold to Griswold. It is possible that the catalog was printed from plates prepared before the transition, the handwritten date is incorrect, or that the company used the Selden & Griswold name for certain purposes even after the business had begun doing business as the Griswold Manufacturing Company.²⁰

Griswold Manufacturing Company Incorporated in 1897

Although the business had already been operating as the Griswold Manufacturing Company, notice of its incorporation was published in 1897.

Conclusion

What began as a simple effort to construct an accurate timeline evolved into a much broader historical investigation. The surviving documentary record does not answer every question about the company’s earliest years, and some details may never be known with certainty. It does, however, provide sufficient evidence to reconcile what at first appear to be conflicting accounts.

Rather than pointing to a single founding date, the record reveals an enterprise that developed in stages. Samuel Selden laid the foundation through his inventive work in 1865. Manufacturing followed at the West Tenth Street “Butt Factory” by 1868, where the partnership of Selden & Griswold expanded beyond architectural hardware into an increasingly diverse line of cast products. Following Samuel Selden’s death, the business evolved into the Griswold Manufacturing Company before its formal incorporation in 1897.

For collectors, this chronology places Griswold’s beginnings in their proper historical context. Long before the company became known for skillets, waffle irons, griddles and other cast-iron cookware, it was an innovative hardware manufacturer built on Samuel Selden’s patents, Matthew Griswold’s partnership, and the enterprise they created together. Understanding those beginnings provides a fuller appreciation of how one of America’s most respected manufacturers of cast-iron cookware came into existence.

Appendix A: Brief Biographies of Matthew Griswold, Samuel Selden, and John Card Selden

Samuel Selden

In addition to being the “guiding spirit” of Selden & Griswold, Samuel Selden was indeed a prolific inventor. He is credited with obtaining a number of patents in addition to the door butt hinge that was the featured product of the burgeoning enterprise in 1868. See Appendix C.

Matthew Griswold

Matthew Griswold’s name is synonymous with some of the finest American-made antique cast-iron cookware. He was a businessman, member of Congress, and an influential figure in Erie’s growth and development. He was:

A Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Lyme, New London County, Conn., June 6, 1833; “attended the common schools and pursued an academic course; engaged in teaching and in agricultural pursuits for a number of years; elected to various local offices; member of the Connecticut house of representatives in 1862 and 1865; moved to Erie, Pa., in 1866; engaged in manufacturing; elected a trustee of Erie Academy for four successive terms; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-second Congress (March 4, 1891-March 3, 1893); was not a candidate for renomination in 1892; elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1895-March 3, 1897); was not a candidate for renomination in 1896; resumed manufacturing pursuits; died in Erie, Pa., May 19, 1919; interment in Erie Cemetery.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

John Card Selden

Headstone of John Card Selden. Erie Cemetery, Erie PA. Photo by the author.

Appendix B: Family Relationship between Matthew Griswold and Samuel and John Card Selden

Appendix C: Patents 1863 – 1884

1. Samuel Selden Oil Package, no. 39,071, patented June 30, 1863 (before enterprise began).

2. Samuel Selden & W.J.F. Liddell Improvement in Hinges, no. 66,893, patented July 16, 1867.

Assigned to John Card Selden.

3. Samuel Selden & Matthew Griswold, Improvement in Links Connecting the Handles and Valve-Rods of Pumps, no. 107,965, patented October 4, 1870.

4. Samuel Selden & Matthew Griswold, Improvement in Mop Heads, patent no. 113,457, patented April 4, 1871.

5. Samuel Selden, Improvement in Attaching (Door) Knobs to Spindles, no. 134,708, patented January 7, 1873

6. Samuel Selden & Orin Hanchett, Improvement in Pump Brackets, no. 142,286, patented August 26, 1873.

Asssigned to Selden & Griswold Manufacturing Company.

7. Samuel Selden, Improvement in Copying Presses, no. 154,286, patented August 18, 1874.

8. Samuel Selden & Matthew Griswold, Improvement in Stove Pipe Dampers, no. 161,064, patented March 23, 1875.

9. Samuel Selden, Improvement in Stove Pipe Thimbles, no. 185,581, patented December 19, 1876.

10. Samuel Selden, Matthew Griswold, & Orin Hanchett, Improvement in Stove Pipe Thimbles, no. 190,986, patented May 22, 1877.

Hanchett assigment of patent to Selden and Griswold.

11. Samuel Selden, Matthew Griswold, & Jotham S. Crump, Improvement in Stove Pipe Dampers, no. 188,418, patented March 13, 1877.

Assigned to Selden & Griswold Manufacturing Company.

12. Samuel Selden & Matthew Griswold, Waffle Iron, no. 229,280, patented June 29, 1880.

13. Samuel Selden & Matthew Griswold, Stove Pipe Damper, no. 226,680, patented April 20, 1880.

14. Samuel Selden, Door Hanger, no. 246,642, patented September 6, 1881.

15. Samuel Selden (posthumous) & Matthew Griswold, Improvement in Waffle Irons, no. 270,659, patented January 16, 1883.

16. Oren Hanchett, Cake Griddle, no. 271,842, patented February 6, 1883.

Note: Page 2 of the application is missing from the Google Patents online database.

Assigned to Selden & Griswold.

17. Matthew Griswold, Cuspidor, no. 301,882, patented July 15, 1884.

1. Samuel Selden obtained a number of United States patents from 1860-1883. One was granted posthumously. See Appendix C.
2. Brief biographies of Samuel Selden, Matthew Griswold, and John Card Selden, together with an abbreviated family tree illustrating the relationships between the men, are included in Appendices A and B. In addition to John Card being Matthew Griswold’s brother-in-law, the Selden brothers were also second cousins once removed to Matthew Griswold. The documentary record does not establish precisely when John Card Selden joined the enterprise. While some sources state that he became involved in the business in 1868, the assignment of Samuel Selden’s 1866 patent to him (discussed below) suggests that he was associated with the enterprise before that date. The patent assignment, however, does not establish the precise nature or extent of his involvement. E.g. Miller, A Twentieth Century History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Vol. II, p. 478-79 (1909) (John Card Selden became “interested” in Selden & Griswold in 1868).
3. Sources conflict on the year in which Matthew Griswold moved from Connecticut to Erie. Some say 1865 while others say 1866. 1866 appears more likely. Griswold served in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1865, and there is no indication that he left Connecticut before completing the one-year congressional term at the time. Connecticut, Constitution of the State of Connecticut (1818, as amended), Art. XVI, Sec. 2, Congressional biography, Matthew Griswold.
4. A second separable hinge patent was granted to Samuel Selden and W.J.F. Liddell on July 16, 1867. See Appendix C, no. 2.
5. Based upon the position of the screw holes in the butt hinge wings, it appears that this particular butt hinge may be one made pursuant to Samuel Selden’s “improved” butt hinge patent granted July 16, 1867. See Appendix C no. 2.
6. Patent examinations in the mid-nineteenth century were generally completed within months rather than years, as reflected in contemporaneous Patent Office records and annual reports. See, e.g., Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents (1865).
7. The author thanks Jim Fuchs and Scott Price for their assistance in clarifying and reconciling the differing “established” dates.
8. For an overview of the Erie Extension canal, which closed in 1871, see this YouTube video. See also Journal of Erie Studies, vol. 12, no. 2, p. 14 (Fall 1983).
9. See advertisement, Boyd’s Business Directory of Over 100 Cities and Villages in New York State, p. 22 (1869-70).
10. Miller, A Twentieth Century History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, p. 696 (1909). See also Griswold History (1989).
11. Miller, A Twentieth Century History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, p. 696 (1909).
12. A copy of the 1871 Samuel Selden and Matthew Griswold mop-head patent is attached at Appendix C no. 4.
13. Advertisement, Gazetteer and Business Directory of Erie County, p.172 (1873-74).
14. While the year is placed at 1873 by at least one contemporary source, the company was advertising as Selden & Griswold by 1869-70. See Miller, A Twentieth Century History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, p. 696 (1909) (“[i]n 1873 it had become known as the Selden & Griswold Mfg. Co.,…”); and Boyd’s Business Directory of Over 100 Cities and Villages in New York State, p. 22 (1869-70) (contains advertisement for “Selden & Griswold”).
15. History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, p. 585 (1925).
16. Unfortunately I did not note where I obtained this photo of the receipt.. If you are the holder of the original and would like attribution, I am happy to give it; please contact me.
17. E.g. Erie Daily Times, March 27,1903 p. 1 (“in 1883 the business became the Griswold Manufacturing Company at the withdrawal of Mr. Selden…”), Miller, A Twentieth Century History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Vol. II, p. 478-79 (1909) (“later, and until his death on May 12, 1888, he was associated with his brother George in the Erie City Iron Works”), Erie Daily Times p.10, October 18, 1905 (in 1883 “Mr. Selden retired…”).
18. The handwriting on the cover indicates that the catalog was given to “C.A.M.” –presumably integral Griswold employee Charles A. Massing–by M.E.G.–presumably Marvin E. Griswold, who was president of Griswold from about 1912 to 1926.
20. This last conclusion is bolstered by an August 19, 1899 Erie Daily Times newspaper article about the wages of company molders that still refers to the company as “Selden & Griswold.”¹⁹Erie Daily Times, p. 1, August 19, 1889.
21. Griswold History 1989 refers to a 3-page single-spaced typewritten document dated August 19, 1989 prepared by George T. Griswold, grandson of Matthew Griswold (son of Roger Wolcott Griswold). Griswold also recounts the history of the Griswold Mfg. Co. in a documentary by Erie, PA PBS station WQLN (Griswold story begins at 21:18). Many thanks to Joannie Baldini for providing the document to the author.
22. While the article reproduced above states that John Card Selden “became interested” in the new business in 1868, it is appears more likely that he was involved prior to that time, given the assignment to him of the 1866 butt hinge patent.