Laclede

Laclede Chain Manufacturing Company has origins dating back to 1854, making us the oldest domestic chain manufacturer. We started business as a blacksmith shop in St. Louis, Missouri, manufacturing wagon hardware for the wagon trains heading west. Most significantly we produced breast chain, trace chain and anti-spreader chains to support wagons under load. This chain was made, as it is today, from drawn rod or wire, the difference being that it was all formed with a blacksmith’s hammer and individually welded and joined over a hearth and bellows. By the 1890’s, the company grew into an industrial concern selling chain and hardware on a national basis.