8. Paul Revere accomplished much more than his midnight ride
Paul Revere was immortalized in the poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, though the event was barely considered important during his lifetime, and he was far from the only rider warning of the British movements on the night of April 18, 1775. His ride, which is shrouded in myth, is all of his life remembered by most Americans. That’s too bad, because Revere was an innovative craftsman and businessman, and his contributions to American industry were beneficial to his country for decades after his death. Revere was an innovator following the Revolutionary War, hiring skilled workers for his expanding ironworks, paying them according to skill level and number of hours of work completed, rather than relying on the traditional method of apprenticeship.
In 1801 Revere expanded his business into the rolling of copper sheets, one of the first Americans to enter the business successfully. He found steady customers for copper bolts and other fasteners, and the shipyards of Boston and its environs used his copper sheets to sheath the hulls of ships, including USS Constitution. In 1802 his copper sheets lined the dome of the Massachusetts State House. His business, which before the Revolutionary War had consisted of a small silversmith shop, grew into the Revere Copper and Brass Corporation. In 1939, the company introduced Revere Ware cookware, linking today’s popular copper-clad pots and pans, as well as other cookware, directly to the Boston patriot who had once sent the famous signal, “one if by land, two if by sea”.