This study aims at enhancing our understanding of how industrial conditions affect the choice of firm ownership structure. The Providence/Attleboro area was a center of jewelry production during the nineteenth century. Due to the differentiated nature of their product, the Providence/Attleboro jewelers needed to actively promote their products to the wholesalers in distant markets. This geographical and industrial condition motivated the entrepreneurs to organize partnerships for ameliorating informational asymmetries and for mobilizing resources required to achieve economies of scale in sales and production.