1856: Charles F. Orvis Founds The Orvis Company in Manchester, Vermont

The ancestry of the Orvis family has been traced to hazy and incomplete records in sixteenth century England. The first known American Orvis was George, who emigrated from England to Farmington, Connecticut, sometime prior to 1640. From there the family name spread and has been associated with a remarkable variety of pastimes and professions. Five generations after George, on the eve of the nineteenth century, Levi Church Orvis was born in Brattleboro, Vermont. In his eighteenth year, during the presidency of James Madison, Levi moved west across the mountains to Manchester, where he met and married Electa Purdy. They had seven children, the fourth being named Charles Frederick Orvis.

In 1831, when Charles Orvis was born Revolutionary War veterans still lived to weave their magic tales of battles won; deep wild woods still bordered green pastures; and life in the Battenkill Valley still retained much of the flavor of frontier days. For all these romantic attachments, the rural economy tempered its children to self reliance. Charles Orvis developed an uncommon practical inventiveness along with an unusual business acumen. By his twentieth birthday he was skilled with hand and machine tools and had mastered the basics of mechanical engineering.

Charles, like many rural boys, developed an interest in field sports early. Later in life his enthusiasm for outdoor pursuits would be revealed in mature ways, such as his support of improved fisheries management and deer laws, but as a youth he still had much to learn. A major event was his first encounter with a skilled fly fisherman:

I remember- well my first trout; I remember as well, the first fine rod and tackle I ever saw, and the genial old gentleman who handled them I had thought I knew how to fish with the fly; but when I saw my old friend step into the stream and make a casts I just wound that line of mine right around the "pole" I had supposed was just right, and I followed an artist (I never used that "pole" again ) I devoted my time that afternoon to what to me was a revelation, and the quiet, cordial way in which the old gentleman accepted my admiration and the pleasure he evidently took in lending to me a rod until I could get one, is one of the pleasant things I shall always retain in memory.

Before long young Charles was building his own rods, for himself and a few friends.

Both Charles and his brother Franklin were quickly involved in the tourist trade. In 1853, Franklin opened the hotel that became the famous Equinox House, and in 1861 Charles built the Orvis Hotel, on the same street as his brother's establishment. Throughout their lives both promoted the resort business which would be so important to Charles' interests in the fishing tackle business.

The tourist trade was brisk enough for Charles to turn his hobby of rod building into a business. In 1856, he formed the C. F. Orvis Company, with sales rooms in a small stone building next to his brother's Equinox Hotel. The Orvis family prospered as the trains brought ever-increasing numbers of tourists from New York and other cities to Manchester. These customers were the best advertisement possible for the new fishing tackle company. The well made rods and flies that were carried home by affluent sportsmen generated repeat orders by mail.

The community of Manchester, surrounded by the Green Mountains, was gaining recognition as a fine resort area. Eventually it became a prominent summering spot for New Yorkers, but before the Civil War, it was still struggling for recognition. Later in the nineteenth century, an old-timer would remember its condition with amusement:

(Travis had just started his summer resort the "Equinox", the Equinox Pond had just been built, and the road down to the railroad called Union Street was just being built They expected to have a railroad station, but the cars would not stop, and as there were no nets to catch the passengers when they jumped, it failed Many thought that Orvis's mission of making Manchester a summer resort was only a vision and predicted failure but it was not, for he succeeded beyond all expectation and made it a paying business, and also brought the water from Mt. Equinox that used to be thought unfit to drink and sold it. Verily, perseverance and pluck are rewarded

By 1861 and the beginning of the Civil War, the Orvis Company had firmly established itself as a manufacturer of solid wood rods of superior quality. It also was becoming noted for its wide selection of flies, and had started a promising mail order business.

The war temporarily halted expansion, but by the 1870s the company's prospects had brightened. Taking advantage of a growing network of railroads, thousands of sportsmen could travel to faraway lakes and streams. Increased orders for fishing tackle prompted Charles to relocate his business in the now-historic white frame building on Union Street, across the square from his first location. With characteristic thoroughness and caution, Charles Orvis began to explore the ways in which he could improve both his business and his products.