Aron Hirsch (1783 – 1842) was supposed to become a Klaus rabbi, like his father Naftali Hirsch Gumprecht (1743 – 1835). Instead, he took over the scrap metal trade of his deceased father-in-law at Grudenberg 11 in 1806. As early as 1811, Aron Hirsch became sales agent for the sheet metal works in Thale and was able to expand the trade to Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig. His son Joseph (1809 – 1871) became an equal partner in 1828. With the acquisition of the copper hammer mill in Ilsenburg in 1829, Aron Hirsch & Sohn was one of the first Jewish companies to go into production.

 However, at that time the purchase could only be made through a straw man because of the ban on Jews establishing themselves in the county of Wernigerode. In 1841, the copper hammer was expanded to include a modern rolling mill. In Halberstadt, the buildings Unter den Weiden 2 and 3 had been acquired in 1840 as business and residential premises for the family. The company was expanded in 1869 by the purchase of the Eberswalde Royal Brass Works, which had been founded in 1700. The growth of the company and the associated increase in administrative staff made it necessary to add the Abtshof building in Halberstadt in 1872.

With the 100th anniversary of the company in 1906, Hirsch Kupfer- und Messingwerks AG was founded, which went public in 1909. Management and business headquarters were moved to Berlin. The headquarters of the trading house remained in Halberstadt.
Aron Hirsch (1858 – 1942), together with his son Siegmund (1885 – 1981) and his nephew Dr. Abraham Hirsch (1867 – 1920), expanded the Eberswalde and Ilsenburg plants into an important European company with holdings in about 50 companies in Germany and abroad. The Halberstadt headquarters was also relocated to Berlin in 1927. From 1929, the company experienced economic turbulence, which ultimately led to its dissolution in the early 1930s.