Woman's Canning and Preserving Company

The Woman's Canning and Preserving Company (originally, American Woman's Canning Company; sometimes pluralized as Women's Canning and Preserving Company; 1890-1920/21) was the first all-women's company in the United States. It was established on December 26, 1890, by Amanda Jones, in Chicago, Illinois. Originally located at 161 LaSalle Street, the headquarters had moved to No. 19 Michigan Avenue by 1892. The object of the company was the manufacture and sale of canned and preserved food.

Jones had refused US$20,000 for an interest in the right to her patents, and as their value and the magnitude of a business promising to revolutionize the whole canning industry became better understood, it was found best to drop the name first chosed, "American Woman's Canning Company", with a capital stock of US$100,000, and take the name of "Woman's Canning and Preserving Company", with increased capitalization to US$1,000,000. The company had exclusive right to the use of her inventions of process, apparatus, and preserving vessels for canning without cooking. Jones wanted women stockholders in every U.S. town and factories in every county. The aim of the stock company was to establish canning and preserving factories in cities all over the U.S., employ women only and sell stock to no one but a woman, thus making it purely a woman's enterprise. It was intended as a means also of giving poor women an opportunity of earning a livelihood. Jones, the originator, had invented a patent way of carrying on the preserving and canning operations of fruits and vegetables without cooking or the use of chemicals. The company closed in 1920/21.