Charles Hager left Germany in 1848 and made his way to New Orleans by sailing vessel. He then traveled to St. Louis by wagon and quickly began work for a blacksmith. Only a year later, the blacksmith headed west for the gold rush and Charles bought the shop. He realized that his training as a blacksmith and wheelwright would put him in good stead as the flood of Easterners poured through St. Louis, headed west. He was right. The onslaught of gold seekers and settlers came, and Charles Hager forged wheel rims and hardware for their Conestoga wagons. He hammered out his old worn out files into knives that were used by fur traders and mountain men. His business grew, and the skill and quality he built into his hardware also built his reputation. As St. Louis grew, so did the company that bore his name: C. Hager.

By 1878, the blacksmith shop had taken on a new look and a new name: C. Hager and Sons Hinge Manufacturing Company. It was a family business now, a growing enterprise that was specializing in the manufacture of quality hardware. In 1894, Hager began producing hinges for wooden beer cases for a brand new St. Louis beer: Budweiser. The Anheuser-Busch brewery is a neighbor of Hager still to this day.
 
Charles Hager’s focus on quality products and unmatched customer service, coupled with a lot of hard work, gave his company a foot up on the rung of success from the very beginning. As the 1800s drew to a close, he began to pine for more. He dreamt of an expanded product line and of machinery that would make for a more efficient process. The idea of product development was forming.

In the early 1900s, Charles Hager stepped down from presidency, and his son, August W. Hager, became the company’s 2nd president. It was during this time that the country saw rapid growth of both farm and residential construction. When August W. Hager stepped into leadership, most hinges were produced by hand forging and other manual procedures. August wanted faster methods of manufacturing and, as a leader in the new industrial revolution, designed and built new machinery for the plants to meet the demands of the new century. These new techniques enabled C. Hager and Sons Hinge Manufacturing Company to increase the diversity of its products for both rural and city dwellings.