The story
Founded in 1833 by William Beecher, AO-Eyewear was later bought by fellow apprentice Robert H. Cole who became the largest shareholder and first president of the company. When he retired in 1891 and Beecher died in 1892, the volume of production was about two million frames and a million pairs of lenses per year.
During World War I, American Optical had eight mobile units that supplied more than 2 million glasses to troops. It provided gun sights, aviation goggles, and sunglasses to troops during World War II.
In 1952, Claire McCardell and American Optical released their own version of cat eye glasses, the first eyewear line by a fashion designer.
After a visit by John F. Kennedy in 1958 to its original manufacturing site in Southbridge, Massachusetts, AO-Eyewear became a go-to brand of the president.
Starting in the 1980s, Warner-Lambert divested from American Optical. In 1982, it sold the vision care and industrial safety business, while retaining its ophthalmic instruments and fiber optic products. As a result, AO-Eyewear closed manufacturing facilities in Frederick, Maryland, and Brattleboro, Vermont. The ophthalmic business was purchased by Sola International in May 1996.
in March 2020, STATE Optical Company, a division of Europa Eyewear, acquired American Optical Eyewear and moved equipment and production to its facility outside Chicago.
From Wikipedia’s article on American Optical Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4