TEMPE, Arizona – One of America’s oldest houseware brands, Jacob Bromwell, is doing it the old-school way. The U.S. company is still making retrograde products such as tin cups, frying pans, chimney flue covers and fireplace popcorn poppers. The products are handcrafted, and made in a historically correct fashion, muchMORE HERE

CHICAGO – Back in the 1950s, Bab-O was one of the top bathroom and kitchen cleansers, along with Ajax and Comet. Today, the cleanser is distributed by Fitzpatrick Brothers of Chicago. The brand shows up at assorted variety and specialty stores. Here, the current packaging, a gel version with bleach.MORE HERE

St. LOUIS – An enduring bug killing name is Enoz, known for fly swatters and moth balls. Founded in 1946, the products are still made in the United States. To many Americans, the smell of Enoz is the smell of winter’s end and winter’s arrival, when woolens come out ofMORE HERE

Elizabethville, Penn. – Carriage brands that might have been around during, say, the time of Little House on the Prairie would be gone. Perhaps most are, but one wagon brand is still around. It’s the company Swab Wagon Co., makers of fire and rescue trucks, pumpers and animal transports. SwabMORE HERE

Anchor hocking

Glassware is the perfect thing to buy American. Much of the production can be automated, and just-in-time demands can make American manufacture more competitive. In addition, good glassware is something that is used over and over, right in front of consumers, and so a “Made in USA” label is something that sticks out every time you put a glass in the dishwasher. MORE HERE

For those who like old brands, having ones around the kitchen always satisfies, as they are reminders of when American companies made enduring products that were useful, practical and handsome. Such is the case with Tru-Edge, a brand of knife steel or sharpener. I have one; I think it cameMORE HERE

That there can be small companies that make just a few products and stay independent is evidenced by Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing. The company was born in the 1880s, when a traveling salesman name Al Stewart carried around a family concoction. He sold the rights to a fellow named Luther Ford inMORE HERE