About 1867, the Harmony Society purchased the town of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. The cutlery was one of the first industries the Society moved to the town. The cutlery originated in Rochester, Pennsylvania in 1866, but the founders, Binns & Mason, lacked sufficient capital. They brought in new investors from Pittsburgh, but the company still failed.
The firm was purchased by the Harmony Society and moved to Beaver Falls in 1867. The factory was one of the largest of its day, employing 300 workers, and turning out more than 120 dozen finished products a day. Thy made all types of cutlery and tableware. In 1872, the workers went on strike. They wanted higher wages, and management would not agree. The works were closed, and management brought in 200 Chinese laborers from New Orleans, and San Francisco to reopen the plant. The reason given for bringing in the Chinese was to reduce the payroll and theft. The payroll did drop from $13,000 to $5,000, but the company still went out of business.
After the last of the Chinese left in 1877, the company slowly declined and finally closed their doors for good in 1886. The machinery for manufacturing pocket knives was sold to the Cattaraugus Cutlery Company of Little Valley, New York about 1890.
c 1867-1886