In the spring of 1827, he moved to Lafayette, Indiana, with merchandise stock purchased in Baltimore, Maryland, and he and one of his brothers started a general store.

Ball eventually sold the business to Jennings, and with the capital bought the property at the northwest corner of Third and Main Streets in Lafayette for $150.

The Wabash and Erie Canal made Ball collector of tolls in 1840, and the following year he was appointed cashier at the Lafayette branch of the Bank of Indiana.

[3] With Albert S. White, Ball became a key factor in the construction of the railroad to Indianapolis, which became part of the Big Four system.

[3] Upon retiring, Ball built a residence on South Ninth Street (where William Lloyd Garrison was once a guest), where he lived until his death in 1893, aged 89.