Paul Revere, Coppersmith
Behind the panel Paul Revere, Coppersmith · series G, Makers.
Paul Revere (1734–1818) is best known for his ride of April 18, 1775. He spent his working life as a metal craftsman and manufacturer.
Silversmith
Trained by his father, a Huguenot-born silversmith, Revere ran a busy Boston shop producing silver tableware, engraving copper plates for prints and currency, and doing small jobs from buckles to surgical instruments. His account books show a craftsman managing apprentices, materials and customers.
Founder and industrialist
After the Revolution, Revere expanded into iron and brass casting, producing bells, cannon and hardware. In 1801 he opened a copper rolling mill in Canton, Massachusetts, one of the first in the United States able to roll sheet copper, which had previously been imported. His mill supplied copper sheathing for the hull of USS Constitution and copper sheets for the dome of the Massachusetts State House. The company he founded continued as Revere Copper Products.
Why he is in the Hall of Makers
Revere's career spans the change from hand craft to industrial production: the same person who hammered a silver bowl in a shop later ran water-powered rolling mills. The modern metal trades, from sheet-metal work to welding and fabrication, descend from both sides of that change.
Further reading
Paul Revere House, Boston; Massachusetts Historical Society, Revere Family Papers.
