1920's - The company is heavily involved in the toy business, manufacturing aluminum toys such as airplanes, candy banks, zeppelins and tractors. It also makes and sells the "Oracle V" radio under its own name.
1920's -The Waterbury Button Company is among the first manufacturers to mold a new plastic called Bakelite into buttons. Bakelite proves to be ideal for electrical parts, and the company molds articles for the electrical industry.

1812 Button Company founded in 1812 by Aaron Benedict in Waterbury, Connecticut. When the "War of 1812" interrupted the supply of buttons from England, he began by melting down pewter pots and pans in order to make buttons for military uniforms. 1824 - The company, known at times as Benedict & Coe 1834 took on a general partner, Gordon W. Burnham, and the name of the company changed to "Benedict & Burnham". 1838 Became "Benedict & Burnham Mfg. Co., one of the new nation's first caster of brass. 1849 subsidiary formed = "The Waterbury Button Company", solely for the manufacture of buttons and uniform accessories. continued to make buttons for all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. 1861 - 1865 "Civil War" company found itself supplying buttons to both sides of the conflict. While Union Forces bought direct, the Confederate Forces dealt through British intermediaries. In the mid-1860's the company embarked as a pioneer in the field of molding products of shellac composition, the first plastic material to be molded in this country. Meanwhile, the plastics industry is born, and The Waterbury Button Company pioneers making products of shellac, the first plastic material molded in this country. The company uses a hand press to produce plastic buttons, checkers and dominoes. It continues to expand its line of metal goods as well. 1870 - The Waterbury Button Company undertakes production of a new, wondrous material – celluloid. Lustrous buttons made of celluloid fill a fashion trend. 1890s - The company rides a toy craze of the "Gay '90s", when an intricate metal toy, the "Climbing Monkey", becomes so popular that the company must turn out 3 million a year. 1893 Officially, the American Brass Company began 7 June 1893, when a group of men from five of the six brass mills in the Waterbury, Connecticut, met to consolidate their interests. The new company was intended to be a holding company for the following operations: Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Company, Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company, Waterbury Brass Company, Scoville Manufacturing Company, Holmes, Booth and Haydens, and Coe Brass Manufacturing Company. However, it was to be another six years (1 March 1899) before the charter was accepted and the company finally organized. Even so, the principal companies could not agree upon remanufacturing activities. All of the companies, with the exception of the Waterbury Brass Company and the Coe Brass Manufacturing Company, withdrew from the newly formed consolidation. The Ansonia Brass & Copper Company (of the Phelps Dodge family) joined the remaining two, and on 14 December 1899 the three companies--Ansonia Brass & Copper, Waterbury Brass and Coe Brass Manufacturing--formed the American Brass Company. By 1901, Benedict & Burnham and Holmes, Booth and Haydens had rejoined the venture and the American Brass Company was on its way.

1917 - The United States enters World War I, and The Waterbury Button Company steps into a well rehearsed role as primary supplier of uniform buttons for the armed forces. 1920s - The company is heavily involved in the toy business, manufacturing aluminum toys such as airplanes, candy banks, zeppelins and tractors. It also makes and sells the "Oracle V" radio under its own name. 1925 -The Waterbury Button Company is among the first manufacturers to mold a new plastic called Bakelite into buttons. Bakelite proves to be ideal for electrical parts, and the company molds articles for the electrical industry. 1943 company changed its name from "The Waterbury Button Company" to "Waterbury Companies". By then the company was making products that ranged from sintered metal medals for service awards to hundreds of plastic products (children's phonograph records, lamp shades, laundry tubs, etc.). 1960 the company built a new plant in Randolph, VT to handle its expanding plastics product lines. 1974, it added another plant in Biddeford, ME to handle more of the injection molding and thermo set plastic products.