I have created this website for anyone with interest or stories about the Broderick family, the Bascom family, or the business Broderick & Bascom to stay in touch, and to be able to share stories or memorabilia.
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 Wisconsin Office |
Heres what I found in reading some of what I have. I have posted the full file online, and it is large. Link below. When JJB (John James Broderick) was 20 and Joe Bascom (JDB) was 18 they both worked at St Louis Railway Supply Company JJB was a shipping clerk and Joe was a billing clerk. They saw the tons of wire rope invoices passing thru because of the Eads Bridge being built. They decided to join forces and start the company. To their advantage, one of the heads of the main competitor wire rope company had recently died in 1868. JJB and Joe made a deal with the remaining partner. B&B was established 1875 and started manufacturing in 1876. |
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Anne Bryan Broderick notes this picture was most likely taken in San Francisco 1915 when they signed the contract for the cable cars. Anne notes that B&B cable hauls the cable cars of San Francisto today.
John James Broderick |
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Brad Bascom sent me this great video on the San Francisco Cable Car museum. Great find Brad! ~Jeanne great article by Loni Stark of Stark Insider Uploaded by starksilvercreek on Jun 10, 2009. Check out her full article here. http://www.StarkInsider.com Inside the still functioning (and loud!) San Francisco Cable Car Museum. Large motors, gears and cables. Also the history of the great 1906 SF earthquake and its impact on the city and transportation. Jun 29, 2009 ... The fall of cable cars came about when the earthquake of 1906 wiped out a lot of the infrastructure and surrounding buildings. 
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 Loni says: While walking up and down the hilly sidewalk, along Mason street, on our way to catch a bite in North Beach, I spotted a quaint brick building with the sign, "Cable Car Museum". I hadn't planned to stop in but curiosity got the better of me and I ventured in to explore. Entering the foyer of the museum, I noticed that besides the photographs and displays common to most buildings devoted to the archiving of history, there was also the distinctive sounds of the whirl of engines. The cable car museum overlooks the set of enormous engines that still pull the remaining cable cars up and down the hilly streets of San Francisco. The museum was established in 1974 and provides a great and very accessible (free) way to learn about the rise and fall of the beloved San Francisco cable cars. |
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Broderick & Bascom, Portland Or. Found this on Picasa I have no evidence this was a broderick and bascom location. I have posted a comment asking how they know. It appeares to currently be a CastAway company. Caption reads: 1900 NW 18th (HRI paper 1929 Broderick and Bascom Rope Company) |
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1940s employee Olive Lambert in the checkered dress. Deb emailed me because she had this wonderful photo of her mother standing in front of the Broderick & Bascom building in her checkered dress, approx date: 1940s. I have put together this slideshow with some nice company images for Deb to gift her mother for her 80th birthday.
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Hello Jeanne,
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Broderick and Bascom building. Im guessing it is from the early 1900s based on the cars in the parking lot.
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According to Bryan Broderick, The boy in this picture is a Kern. |
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In 1876 Broderick & Bascom Rope Company made its start in St Louis with an upstairs office and a ropewalk, part of it outdoors. The first mechanized factory followed in 1883. In 1951 B&B owns and operates modern plants in 4 cities: St Louis, Seattle (1907), Peoria and Houston. Branch ofrfice and warehouse stocks are also maintained in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon. Distributors serve hundreds of industrial centers. Per the July 1951 catalog. |
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Fellow employees of a railway supply company in St Louis, John J Broderick and Joseph D Bascom saw that the country and its industries were beginning to move into a period of broad expansion. They pictured wire rope as an essential tool for this movement. Through their hands had passed orders for cables used in building the massive bridge designed by Captain Eads to link the East and West across the Missippi. Out in San Francisco, they had noted, a new cable car foreshadowed the departure of the horse-drawn car from city streets. New railroad constructoin...wier demand for forest products...deeper mine shafts...and oil well...higher buildings...heavier |
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| Taken from a book, thouth typed in a cursive font….hmmmm… notes B&B was “Company is the pioneer wire rope making concern in the west from an insignificant beginning it is now regarded as the largest firm of its kind in the western states, employing over 200 people; it has branch office in New york and Seattle, Wash. Member merchang’s Exchange, manufacturer’s Ass’n. and is a physical enthusiast. Office 809 N. Main Street Residence Hotel Beers, and Glencoe, Missouri.” Page 82 of “The book of St Louisans” St Louis Republic 1905 |
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In Anne BBs papers.....Some business stuff. Copy of the navy award for excellence Business directory / advertisement. Article about how our cable was used for the San Francisco cable cars. |
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| mis links | http://www.librarything.com/work/3810172
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http://archives.hcea.net/?p=collections/controlcard&id=155 |
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“ INDUSTRIAL WIRE ROPES "Issued in 1944 by Broderick & Bascom Rope Company, St. Louis, Missouri. A light brown soft cover booklet with black lettering and an illustrated front cover. The booklet was aimed at the general contractor or rope user who needed general information on how wire rope could help in their construction activities. Includes a complete set of data sheets on wire rope, mathematical tables of general values, general recommendations on many types of equipment and fundamental data on slings, methods of calculating sling loads, installing wire rope clips, splicing and attaching sockets. Profusely illustrated throughout. 96 pages, including the index. |
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Magazine Advertisement Description
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1942 BRODERICK & BASCOM ROPE CO., St. Louis, Missouri, Print Ad for their YELLOW STRAND Preformed Wire Rope. "Wire Rope smooths the road to war" |
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Per Jun 2007 article in MISSORUI LIFE magazine, Broderick & Bascom Rope Company sold to Keystone Steel & Wire in 1966. Subsequent owners listed to the left. In 1980 the plant was moved to Sedalia. WRCA corporate headquarters in St Joseph. |
links of B&B stuff online
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http://www.librarything.com/work/3810172
http://archives.hcea.net/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=155&templateset=printcontrolcard&disabletheme=1
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| Palace of Manufactures - 1904 World's Fair B&B won an award at the Worlds Fair in 1904 in St. Louis. I believe that it was presented in I may have the information somewhere in my files and if I do I probably got it from Joan. |
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1934 catalog
| 1934 Broderick and Bascom Rope Company catalog |
| Small note pad distributed by Broderick and Bascom Rope Co. St.Louis, MO. Very fascinating item. Not just a blank notepad, but also filled with information pages. Even starts with a table of contents, which includes :A Few Facts of the World We Live In, Antidotes for Poisons, Calendars for 1903,04,and 05, Foreign Currancy and US Value, Official Population of the US,Postal Distances and Time from New York City, Simple Rules for the Game of Whist, Wedding Anniversaries, US Presidents, and more! A fantastic item. Cover is Celluloid covered. Lovely printing of a pretty lady. 1904. |
Pics of Montana tramway |
Hello: Do you have any pictures of the mining trams or the tram buckets that moved ore in the early mining days? Thanks Later email explaining:
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As of this printing in 2007, the B & B plant is still in business, although there is only one plant left. During the 1960's cheap imports, high steel prices and unions had beat the company to a pulp. There were plants in Seattle, St Louis, New York and Texas. As an attempt to get away from the unions a plant was opened in Sedalia (current location). That is the only plant left and the only one that has stayed non union, the company that bought Amstead has gone bankrupt.That is why B&B is employee owned. B & B still makes rope for the Navy, they manufacture the "catch cables" for the aircraft carriers. These cables "Catch" the planes as they land on the deck. B & B also still supplies the cable for the San Fransisco cable cars. In fact there is a street in San Fran named Broderick it is at the top of Lombard Street. I was told we had a factory there. If you ever go to the cable car museum there is a spool of B&B there. During the 2nd World War B & B was awarded the Navy "E" for excellence several times before Monsanto or Malenkrot, it was quite a big deal at the time. They won the awards for providing Wire Rope of the highest quality on or before the appointed dead line. I have the metals and the flag that was given to the company that they flew in front of the factory. I also have a recording of the award ceremony it is on very fragile wax disks. Another story about the company that you may or may not know is that the factory on Union blvd. in north STL was sold to General Motors. They wanted it because it was so large and had its own power plant (Steam driven Generator). Later a substation was installed and the steam engine was sold to the city of STL. It was so well built that it is still in operation today powering the #1 water pump station providing water to the city of STL. It is a Coreless Steam Engine with a flywheel over 12 feet. I have seen it a few times but not lately. General Motors built the Corvette at the old plant from 1963 until they finally moved the plant to Kentucky in thel ate 70's again getting away from the unions. The building is still there and the front entrance is still the same. The Clark's now own it and have converted it into several smaller units for smaller factories to operate. |
j18k