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Cyrus Alger & Company

Cyrus Alger & Company of South Boston was a leading Massachusetts cannon foundry. Grown from Cyrus Alger's early shot-and-shell work, it supplied large numbers of weapons to both the Army and Navy.

Also known as: South Boston Foundry, S.B.F., Alger's Foundry.

LocationSouth Boston, Massachusetts
Founded1817 as the South Boston Iron Company (Alger's Foundry)
LeadershipCyrus Alger, then his son Francis to 1864
MarkingS.B.F. (South Boston Foundry)

A leading Northern foundry

Cyrus Alger had furnished the government with shot and shell during the War of 1812, and in 1817 he started the South Boston Iron Company, known locally as Alger's Foundry and later as Cyrus Alger and Company. It became a leading cannon manufacturer in Massachusetts.

After Cyrus Alger died in 1856 his son Francis led the firm until his own death in 1864. During the Civil War the company supplied both the Army and the Navy with large numbers of weapons, and its ordnance is sometimes marked S.B.F. for South Boston Foundry.

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