The History of
Hodges Badge Company

1960s

The Winter Sale is Born! 

There were many new and exciting things that happened in the 1960s for Hodges Badge Company. In the Spring of 1962, Ted, Jim’s dad, asked Jim if he would come work for the company. Jim agreed, but only for one year. That same year, Jim and his wife Sheila’s son, Frederick “Rick” Hodges was born. Jim decided to stay on at the company and never left. But he wanted to make some very big changes. He introduced quantity price breaks in catalogs and created our first ever Winter Sale. This event was appreciated by customers, helped to grow the Hodges business, and is still an event that customers count on today! 

Jim expanded the Hodges Badge Company brand. The Ideal Rosette was redesigned using box pleated ribbon. The first Ludlow as well as the first automatic press was purchased for Hodges Badge Company. With all the success that the business received, buttons were then added to the product line. 

The Company, which has been a partnership of F.J. Hodges, Emaline G. Hodges, and Anna M. Hodges, incorporates in 1965. Once again, space was getting tight at 857 Boylston St., so Hodges negotiated a lease agreement for 53 Smith Place, Cambridge a 5,000 sq. foot building moving there at the end of 1965.

An example of an order how orders were placed. 

A 1961 Flyer that was mailed to all
 equestrian customers.

Heidelberg Machine that was purchased in the 1960s and is still used today.

United States in the 1960's:

  • John F. Kennedy elected president.
  • The Berlin Wall is built.
  • The Peace Corps was established.
  • John Glenn is first American to orbit the earth.
  • Kevlar was invented.
  • Wal-Mart founded.
  • John F. Kennedy is assassinated in 1963.
  • Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech delivered to freedom marchers in Washington, DC. 
  • The first Super Bowl was held. 
  • The Beatles release first album.
  • President Johnson greatly increases troop levels in Vietnam as US enters Vietman War.
  • Thurgood Marshall becomes first African American Supreme Court Judge.
  • Robert Kennedy assassinated.
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated.
  • US Civil Rights Act passed.
  • Apollo 11 reached the moon and Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. 
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