ARTICLE ON THE HISTORY OF THE AMES FAMILY WAY
By Dr. W. Ames Curtright

In 1774, while an infant country was still but a gleam in the eyes of her founding fathers, there was a birth of a different sort taking place. In the colonial town of Bridgewater, Massachusetts a blacksmith was at work. Captain John Ames began making the colonies' first metal shovels. These shovels would replace early wooden and metal English imports and would soon take their rightful place in the rugged hands of enterprising patriots. John Ames and his sons made sure that these tools were the finest quality possible.

Later, the successful Ames Tools were supplied to the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1864, President Lincoln asked Representative Oaks Ames and Oliver Ames to help build it. Upon that request, Oliver Ames invested millions in the Union Pacific. Oliver Ames was appointed president of the Union Pacific and he made it his goal to build it into the best that it could be. Under the Ames presidency seven times more track was laid than the previous year.