Ball
Glass mason jars, lids and home canning supplies, made in America since 1884
🇺🇸 American Manufacturing
Our assessment
Company details
How Ball jars are made
Domestic glass
Ball glass has been produced in America for more than 140 years. The historic Muncie, Indiana plant — running since the 1880s — closed in 2019, with jar production shifting to other US glass facilities while the Fresh Preserving business stayed in Indiana.
The tinplate question
Ball’s own help centre explains why the old “Made in USA” stamp changed: a domestic tinplate shortage means some steel for lids and bands is now sourced abroad. The company disclosed it rather than quietly dropping the claim.
A two-piece standard
The two-piece lid and band closure Ball introduced in 1934 is still the format the entire home canning category is built around, and BPA-free lids arrived in 2012.
Ball’s current product copy reads “American Made with Globally Sourced Materials” across the jar lines we sampled, including the Americana Keepsake and Flute ranges. That is a real disclosure, not a technicality — so the correct tier here is American Manufacturing, not Made in USA. The company’s own help centre attributes the change to a domestic tinplate shortage affecting lids and bands.
The story
In 1884, five brothers — Edmund, Frank, George, Lucius and William Ball — borrowed $200 from their uncle and bought a small can company in Buffalo, New York. They renamed it Ball Brothers Manufacturing and, in 1888, moved the operation to Muncie, Indiana, drawn by the natural gas that fed the glass furnaces.
Over the next century the Muncie plant made Ball the largest producer of home canning jars in America, and the name became a generic term for the product itself. The 1934 introduction of the two-piece tinplate closure set the standard the whole category still uses.
The Ball family eventually exited the glass and home-canning business. Today the Ball Fresh Preserving brand is owned by Newell Brands, which licenses the Ball trademark from Ball Corporation — the unrelated aerospace and aluminium packaging company that carries the same family name.
The Muncie plant closed in 2019 after more than 130 years. Production moved to other domestic glass facilities and the business is now run from Fishers, Indiana, keeping the operation in the state where the brand grew up.
Why they matter
Home food preservation is one of the few household practices that still depends on a durable, refillable, American-made object. Ball keeps large-scale glass jar and lid manufacturing on US soil in an industry that has otherwise moved offshore almost completely.
The brand also demonstrates what honest origin labelling looks like. Rather than keeping a Made in USA stamp it could no longer fully support, Ball changed the wording and published an explanation of why — a standard most brands do not meet.
A Ball jar bought this year fits a lid designed in 1934. That kind of backwards compatibility is only possible when a manufacturer stays in one place long enough to be held to it.
Shop Ball products
The Ball range on the Buy American Store covers the core canning formats — regular mouth and wide mouth pints, quarts and half-gallons — alongside the Quilted Crystal jelly jars and Americana keepsake editions.
Ball: questions we get asked
Are Ball jars made in the USA?
Ball glass jars, lids and bands are manufactured domestically, but current packaging reads “American Made with Globally Sourced Materials.” Ball’s own help centre explains that a domestic tinplate shortage means some lid and band steel is now imported.
Where are Ball jars made now?
The historic Muncie, Indiana plant closed in 2019 and production moved to other US glass facilities. The Ball Fresh Preserving business is based in Fishers, Indiana.
Is Ball still family owned?
No. The Ball family left the home canning business decades ago. The brand is owned by Newell Brands, which licenses the Ball trademark from Ball Corporation.
Do new Ball lids fit old Ball jars?
Yes — the two-piece lid and band format Ball introduced in 1934 is still the standard, so modern regular-mouth and wide-mouth lids fit jars of the same mouth size going back generations.