Jacrim Manufacturing Company

Jacrim Manufacturing Company

Boston, Massachusetts

1922 – 1934

Founders:  Charles H. Jackson, Arthur L. Jackson and Chester A. Rimmer

Jacrim Manufacturing Company was founded in 1922 in Malden, Massachusetts to produce metal products.  Founders Arthur Jackson and Chester Rimmer both studied naval architecture at MIT and were 1921 graduates.  With the backing of Arthur’s Uncle Charles Jackson and Chester Rimmer’s Uncles David and John Rimmer, both officers for the company, the two began producing wooden ships and sailboats that were as well-crafted as their full-sized counterparts.  The Jacrim product line would grow beyond the “Seaworthy Boats” to also include “Flying Yankee” motor boats; “Ride ‘Em wagons and carts; wooden forts; and “Tom Thumb” ships, vehicles and trains.

By 1926 Charles Jackson and David and John Rimmer were no longer with the company.   Isadore and Benjamin Marks were now President and Secretary, respectively, of Jacrim Manufacturing.  The Marks brothers had been in the toy business since 1911 with the Marks Brothers Company.  In 1919 the brothers were founding members of Keystone Manufacturing Company, another Boston toy company.  By 1928 all three companies were producing toys from one location at 288 A Street, Boston.  Jacrim Manufacturing would continue to produce toys under its own name until it was merged into Keystone Manufacturing Company, and the Jacrim Manufacturing Company was legally dissolved in 1934.  Keystone Manufacturing’s boat products were known as the “Jacrim” line through 1934.  At this time the ships went from largely hand-made to machine cut parts.  Chester Rimmer, the last of the founders of Jacrim, would continue on with Keystone until his retirement in 1958.