The Imperial Knife Company had its roots at the Empire Knife Company in Winsted, Connecticut. In 1916, two men named Felix and Michael Mirando moved from Frosolone Molise in Italy to Providence, Rhode Island to be near its jewelry industry and began making skeletons for “Waldemar,” or pocket watch chain knives. With their friend Domenic Fazzano as manager, they established the Imperial Knife Company, which would once grow to be the largest knife manufacturer in the United States. The company developed several successful innovations in manufacturing commercial value-priced folding pocket knives. The company was merged with the Schrade Cutlery Company in 1941. Albert M. Baer purchased the Ulster Knife Company, merged it with the Imperial Knife Company, and designated this new business as the Imperial Knife Associated Companies, to produce knives for the military. Albert's brother, Henry Baer, was the company's first president and the namesake for Schrade's "Uncle Henry" line of knives. The Baers purchased the Schrade Cutlery Company in 1946 from J. Louis Schrade and renamed it the Schrade Walden Cutlery Corporation, a division of the Imperial Knife Associated Companies group. Tang stamps bearing the Imperial name appeared until 1988 when they were discontinued and replaced by the Schrade name.

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