‘- In 1887, the Ball family moved its glass manufacturing business from Buffalo, NY to Muncie. Ball Brothers Glass Company became one of America’s best known manufacturers of canning jars. The Ball family purchased most of the land along the north bank of the White River between Wheeling and Granville pikes in 1893. The name chosen by the family for the property was taken from a Sioux word, “mna” (pronounced mini) which means “water” and combined with the English word “tryst” to form “Minnetrista”, or “a gathering place by the water”. The origin of the Minnetrista Cultural Center dates back to 1978, when Margaret Ball Petty wrote to her cousin Edmund F Ball, suggesting that the Ball Brothers Foundation provide a museum in which to exhibit fine art along with some Ball Jar artifacts. Every year Ball Jar collectors from all over the US will travel to Muncie for a convention to show off their antique collection of Ball Jars. 
