At the age of 20 (1886) he emigrated to the United States and went to work for fellow Scandanavian Iver Johonson in Fitchburg, MA. From there he went to work for C.S. Shattuck Arms in Hatfield, MA., while working for Charles Shattuck, he created and patented a small pistol.
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When Shattuck went under circa 1908, he went to work for J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. in Chicopee Falls, MA. He also bought some of the machine tools from Shattuck and set them up in his barn behind his home.
Working at Stevens during the day and in his barn at night, with help from his sons they produced this little 4-shot pistol, known as the Brownie. Between 1908 and 1909 they made 500 of these guns.
Mossberg moved his family to New Haven, Connecticut in 1914 to work for Marlin-Rockwell which went out of business in 1919.
That forced Mossberg to make a decision, look for work or set out on his own. He chose the latter, that same year he and his two sons, Iver and Harold, founded O.F. Mossberg & Sons in New Haven. The team rented a loft on State Street in New Haven and reintroduced the Brownie pistol.
In 1921 they purchased a larger space on Greene Street, in the Wooster Square neighborhood.
In 1922 Mossberg began building .22 rifles.
In 1937 the company relocated a few blocks away to St. John Street in a round building that was once used to store natural gas. It was also in 1937 that Oscar passed away.
The company had survived the depression, and the coming war meant a boom in military contracts.
Parts for the M2, the British Lee-Enfield and special tool gauges were made by Mossberg during the war. They also sold a considerable amount of their models 42 & 44 .22 rifles to be used for training soldiers.
In 1945 Iver Mossberg passed away, leaving Harold to run the business by himself.
In 1960 the company moved most of the operations to a new modern facility in North Haven, a few miles north of New Haven. Later Marlin would join them, opening a modern facility just a mile north of Mossberg's.
In 1961 Mossberg introduced the gun that would come to define the company, the model 500 pump action shotgun.
In 1989 Mossberg opened a new facility in Eagle Pass Texas, this was also when Mossberg introduced a value priced line of shotguns under the Maverick moniker.
In 2013 nearly all production has moved to Eagle Pass.
In 2019 Mossberg introduced a new line of pistols
Timeline of Events
1866 - Oscar Frederick Mossberg is born in Sweden
1886 - Mossberg emigrates to America, goes to work at Iver Johnson
1907/08 - Mossberg begins building the Brownie pistol, He begins employment at J, Stevens Arms
1914 - Mossberg moves to New Haven, goes to work for Marlin-Rockwell
1919 - O.F. Mossberg & Sons is founded in New Haven on State Street
1921 - Mossberg moves operations to Greene Street
1922 - Mossberg introduces their .22 rifles
1937 - A new facility on St. John Street is purchased, Oscar passes away at the age of 71.
1945 - Iver Mossberg dies
1960 - Most operations moved to new facility in North Haven
1961 - The Mossberg 500 shotgun is introduced
1964 - Harold Mossberg dies
1988/89 - Mossberg introduces value priced Maverick Arms, also opens new facility in Eagle Pass Texas.
2019 - Mossberg celebrates 100 years, still family run and owned. They introduce a 9mm pistol.
What Remains:
What Remains:
I could not ascertain where on State Street the loft rented by the Mossbergs was located, the street parallels the railroad tracks and has for a long time been an industrial area.
There are a couple of possibilities, one is the Kellog Building on the corner of State and Elm, another is just a few doors down.
The addresses for the building they owned on Greene Street (201, 205 or 303 Greene Street), no longer exists, I believe it was on the corner of Greene Street and Hughes Place, which is now an apartment complex.
Two problems, one is that during the time the Mossbergs operated out of St. John Street, Interstate 91 was being built, which intersected and removed a large section of St. John Street. The second is that I found no less than six different addresses on advertising media. The following addresses: 58912, 9710, 6002, 99711, 6506 & 85011, not one of these addresses exist today.
I believe the location was demolished for the construction of the interstate or the address system changed, and the building was demolished later.
The North Haven factory at 7 Grasso Avenue still stands, although I don't know how much manufacturing takes place there.
The North Haven factory at 7 Grasso Avenue still stands, although I don't know how much manufacturing takes place there.
As always if you have more information to share, please comment below.
Sources:
http://cfnparts.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=36
https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2016/9/20/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-mossberg/
http://gunivore.com/brands/mossberg-sons-company-overview-review/
A Look Back: Oscar F. Mossberg and O.F. Mossberg & Sons | USCCA (usconcealedcarry.com)
MOSSBERG® 500®: THE COMPLETE STORY OF AN AMERICAN ICON - WOOX (wooxstore.com)
https://www.mossberg.com/since-1919-a%E2%80%88look-at-the-storied-history-of-mossberg/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O.F._Mossberg_%26_Sons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooster_Square_Historic_District
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooster_Square
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/O.F._Mossberg_%26_Sons.html
GUNS Magazine Mossberg At 100 - GUNS Magazine
I live in Connecticut, back in the mid60s New Haven "revitalized" its down town. Very little of the old remains, they gutted along the port and basically tore down most of the old Italian immigrant area with a small area remaining called Wooster Street which is famous for its pizza. Sadly, Connecticut once the arsenal of the free world is now the laughingstock of the US with is progressive governor and all house representatives and senators. Connecticut has no use for the firearms manufacturing that was so prevalent and profitable here. We have lost so much to history and the state could care less. As if that is not bad enough, senator murphy has an office in the old Colt Building in Hartford.
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