The Start of Glassmaking in the U.S.
Glassmaking in America didn’t begin after independence. It started way earlier, even before the country existed. A few tries had already been made during the previous century, but none of them stuck. They came and went.
In May 1607, England set up Jamestown in what was then called the Colony of Virginia. Just over a year later, someone tried to make glass there. Back in England, glassmaking was hitting roadblocks. The industry relied on wood to fire the furnaces, but using wood for that was discouraged. Eventually, it got banned. England hadn’t yet figured out how to make glass with coal on a large scale. They were working on it, but still early days. Because of this problem, England started to lean on places like Venice and other parts of Europe to get its glass.
Meanwhile, North America seemed packed with forests. That meant plenty of wood. The people in charge saw it as a good opportunity to start making glass. So the Virginia Company of London shipped over a load of supplies to Jamestown in October 1608. Along with the gear came eight skilled workers. Some of them were glassmakers. Official records said they were Dutch and Polish, but the "Dutch" workers were probably German. Most historians agree on that now.
Captain John Smith, the leader of the colony and a well-known explorer, talked about how hard it was to make glass out there. He described where they built the glass site. A writer named William Strachey also wrote about it. Years later in 1931, ruins were found. That discovery made people think the old Jamestown glass site was about a mile away from the original settlement. Today that area is called Glass House Point. Some bits of structure and tools were also found back in the 1920s.
No one knows exactly what kind of glass items they made. Some think they made bottles or beads, but there’s no solid proof. Still, it’s believed that the glassworkers got started not long after they landed. When a ship went back to England, it took samples of glassware with it. That would have been the first shipment. By spring 1609, records show they had managed to do a test batch, or what they called a "tryall of glasse."
But things took a bad turn. That winter, from 1609 to 1610, was brutal. It’s remembered as the Starving Time. People barely made it. Because of that, glass production came to a stop.
So no, this first attempt didn’t last. But it still matters. We know for sure that glass was made in Jamestown by fall 1608. That makes it the first glass factory in what would become the United States. It also marked the first industrial operation set up by the English in North America.
Jamestown Tries Glassmaking Again
In 1621, there was another push to bring glassmaking back to Jamestown. The plan was to have four Italian glassworkers come over with their families. They were supposed to make beads and drinking glasses. They left for Jamestown in late August of that year. A new glasshouse was built, but things didn’t go as planned. The Massacre of 1622 and disease slowed everything down. By June 1622, no glass had been made yet.
No one knows exactly where this second glass site was located. And there’s still no solid proof about what kind of glass they were trying to make. But since beads were often traded with local Native American tribes, it's likely they were aiming to make glass beads.
There is some evidence that the furnace was up and running by March 1623. But the sand they had wasn’t great. Because of that, production was basically zero. After the tough winter of 1623 to 1624, the whole thing stalled. In April 1625, they officially gave up on the glassmaking effort.
Why did it fail? A lot of reasons. Security was weak. Food was limited. The sand wasn't good enough. And there were constant arguments between the supervisors and the workers. Even though they did manage to make glass at Jamestown, it never turned into a steady operation. The early attempt in 1608 didn’t last, and neither did this second try in the 1620s.
Today, the National Park Service takes care of the old Jamestown furnace ruins at Glasshouse Point. Right next to it, glassmakers still work in a rebuilt glasshouse, using the same 1600s techniques to make new glass pieces.
Glassmaking Moves North to Massachusetts
North of Jamestown, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, another attempt was made. In 1639, two colonists named Obadiah Holmes and Lawrence Southwick teamed up to start their own glassworks. A year later, a glassmaker named Ananias Concklin joined them. In 1641, the town of Salem gave them some funding to help the project.
According to someone from the Southwick family, they made hollow ware and bottles in different colors like light green, dark green, blue, and brown. They also made small round panes called “bulls eyes” for windows and doors. That suggests they were using what’s called the Crown method to make window glass.
Some historians think the Salem glassworks kept going off and on until about 1661. Others think it shut down much earlier, maybe in 1642 or 1643.
Glassmaking in New Amsterdam
While that was happening in New England, glassmaking was also picking up in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, which later became New York City. In the 1620s, the Dutch had a trading post set up there, in what is now lower Manhattan.
Around 1645, a man named Everett Duijcking opened a glassmaking shop in the colony. He was originally from Westphalia, a part of Germany near the Dutch border. His glassworks later ended up being taken over by Jacob Melyer in 1674. The Melyer family is believed to have kept the business going for three or four generations. If that’s true, glassmaking in Manhattan might have lasted from 1645 all the way to around 1767.
Another glassmaker in New Amsterdam was Johannes Smedes. In 1654, he got a piece of land next to what people started calling “Glass-makers Street.” In 1664, the same year the English took over New Amsterdam, Smedes sold his glassworks and moved out to Long Island. He’s believed to have made window glass, bottles, and basic household items.
Other glassmakers in the area included Routoff Jansen and Cornelius Dirkson. They both started out working for Smedes before setting off on their own.
Early Glassmaking Near Philadelphia
In the early 1680s, a group called the Free Society of Traders built a glass factory near Philadelphia, in what was then the Province of Pennsylvania. They set it up in Frankford. Joshua Tittery ran the place. He was a manager and a potter.
They made bottles and window glass for a few years. English glassblowers handled the work. But glassmaking didn’t take off in the Pennsylvania Colony. It didn’t pay off. Tittery had better luck with pottery than he did with glass. By 1684, things had gone downhill. Philip Lehman, secretary to William Penn, wrote a letter that made it clear: "The Glasshouse comes to nothing." By 1685, the pressure from investors forced them to shut it down.
A Turning Point in American Glassmaking
By 1700, almost no glass was being made in the British colonies. That changed in 1745. Caspar Wistar started a glass factory that finally lasted. His factory was in the Province of New Jersey. There had been earlier factories in New Amsterdam in the 1600s, but they didn’t last either. They’re still worth a mention, though.
Later on, Henry Stiegel became the first person in America to make crystal, a higher-quality glass. His first factory opened in 1763. He started producing finer glass by 1769. Stiegel worked in the southeastern part of the Province of Pennsylvania.
The first time coal was used as furnace fuel in American glassmaking was in 1794. That was at a factory near the Schuylkill River, close to Philadelphia. It didn’t last long. But in 1797, the O’Hara and Craig glass factory opened in Pittsburgh. They used coal too. That move helped turn Pittsburgh into a major glassmaking city in the 1800s.
Skilled Glass Workers from Germany
A lot of the top glass workers in 17th and 18th-century America came from German-speaking areas. One of them was Johann Friedrich Amelung. He later went by John Frederick Amelung. By 1788, he had 342 workers at his New Bremen glass factory in Frederick County, Maryland. They were all skilled German glassmakers.
Others like Wistar, Stiegel, and the Stanger brothers were also of German background. When one factory failed, the glassmakers usually found jobs at another one. Their skills kept the trade alive, even when the businesses didn’t last.
Other Glassmaking Efforts in the 1600s and 1700s
There were more glassmaking attempts during this time. Some of them worked out, at least for a while. Factories popped up in places like New Amsterdam, New York City, the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, Philadelphia, and Glassboro in New Jersey.
The problem is, a lot of records from that time didn’t survive. So we don’t know much about what really happened, especially with the New Amsterdam factories. The Massachusetts glassworks in the 1600s didn’t last long either. The factory in Glassboro, though, kept going and lasted into the 1900s.
Still, by 1800, there were probably no more than a dozen glass factories of any real size working in the United States.
How Glassmaking Works: The Batch and Beyond
Glassmakers have a specific word for the mix of raw materials they start with. They call it a "batch." That batch includes everything needed to make a certain type of glass. The process starts with mixing the batch, melting it down, shaping it into whatever item is being made, and then cooling it slowly.
Sand is the main part of the batch. It holds the silica that gives glass its structure. Along with sand, smaller amounts of soda and limestone get added. Sometimes, other materials are mixed in to give the glass color. For instance, adding cobalt oxide turns the glass blue.
Old glass is also used in the batch. It's called cullet. Cullet melts faster than fresh materials, so it helps save fuel when running the furnace. Most batches include about 25 to 50 percent cullet.
Once the batch is ready, it's loaded into a pot. That pot gets heated in a furnace to around 3,090 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1,700 degrees Celsius. The molten mix is referred to by glassmakers as "metal." That’s just their word for melted glass. After it’s melted, the metal gets shaped into finished products. Some of this shaping is done by blowing the glass. Other times, the glass gets pressed into molds.
Pressing glass by hand had been around a long time. But machines didn’t press glass until the 1820s. That invention came from the U.S.
Every glass item needs to be cooled down slowly. This process is called annealing. If the glass cools too fast, it can crack or shatter. At first, American glassmakers annealed glass in a sealed kiln. They’d heat it up, then let it cool little by little. In the 1860s, those old-style kilns were replaced by conveyor ovens, called lehrs. Lehrs made the job easier and cut down on labor.
Before the 1760s, nearly all American-made glass had a greenish tint. It was called “green glass” or “bottle glass.” That color came from impurities in the sand and the fact that nothing was added to change the color or clear it up. Crystal glass, which is clearer and higher quality, started getting made in Pennsylvania in the 1760s. To make crystal glass, you need red lead in the mix.
In the 1700s, making window glass involved blowing a long cylinder and then flattening it. Two main methods were used. The simpler one was the crown method. The more advanced one was the cylinder method.
One of the biggest costs for any glass factory was fuel. That’s why factories were often built near fuel sources. At first, wood was used to fire the furnaces. But by the 1790s, coal had taken over. Natural gas and oil didn’t show up as fuel options in the U.S. until the second half of the 1800s.
Labor and transport were also huge factors in where and how glass was made. The techniques and formulas used in glassmaking were closely guarded. European governments didn’t want glassmakers leaving their countries. But some master glassworkers, especially blowers and cutters, were smuggled out. They brought secret methods with them and helped start American glass production.
Early Glassmaking in New Amsterdam and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies
Not much is known about the glass factories in New Amsterdam, but it's possible one of them stayed in business into the 1760s. Before highways and railroads existed, these glass factories relied on rivers and streams to move goods and supplies. The country’s first railroad didn’t get a charter until 1827, and actual construction didn’t begin until 1828. So, for a long time, water was the only option for transport.
If none of the New Amsterdam glass factories were still running after 1700, then there was likely no glass production happening at all in what would later become the U.S. until around the 1740s. During that gap, most of the glass used in the colonies came from England. London and Bristol were the main sources. English factories used the crown method to make window glass and also produced high-quality lead crystal for tableware. At the same time, glassmaking in northern Germany was going through a slump. That may have pushed German glassmakers to move to the English colonies in search of better opportunities.
By the time the 18th century ended, roughly two dozen glass factories had been set up in the colonies that would become the United States. A few of those kept operating into the 1800s.
In 1738, Caspar Wistar, a German immigrant who had been making brass buttons in Philadelphia, bought land in Salem County, New Jersey, to start a glassworks. Production officially began in 1739. Wistar had come from the Palatine region of modern-day Germany. He hired German workers to make bottles, tableware, and window panes. They used the cylinder method for the windows. The bottles were made of a clear green glass. His original partners were four experienced glassblowers, all from German-speaking areas.
Wistar's company went by several names over time. Some called it United Glass Company, others Wistar Glass Works, Wistarberg Glass Works, or Wistarburg Glass Works. Even though the factory was about 40 miles away from Philadelphia, Wistar lived in the city and sold most of his glass there. Benjamin Franklin even used glass from Wistar’s company in some of his electrical experiments.
When Wistar died in 1752, his son Richard took over. The company kept growing for another couple of years. But then they started having a hard time holding on to skilled workers. That led to a drop in quality. By the winter of 1775 to 1776, production became inconsistent. The glassworks was put up for sale in 1780. Richard Wistar died in 1781, and eventually the whole operation shut down and was left behind.
Wistar was the one who kicked off the long stretch of German influence in American glassmaking. That influence lasted through the 1800s. Many of the glassworkers he brought over or trained later joined competing companies or opened their own glass shops. They passed their techniques and knowledge to others. Most historians say Wistar’s factory was the first glass business in the U.S. to actually succeed on a commercial level. Still, a few believe the older 1600s glass factories like Smedes or the Duijcking-Milyer works in New Amsterdam also deserve a place in that conversation.
The Rise of Glassmaking in Colonial Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Heinrich Wilhelm Stiegel, better known as "Baron Stiegel," was born in Cologne, Germany, in 1729. He came to Philadelphia in 1750 and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a few years later. In 1752, he got married and bought his father-in-law’s share of a plantation called Elizabeth Furnace. That site had a blast furnace for making iron stoves. He became a citizen of the Pennsylvania colony in 1760 and started using the anglicized name Henry William Stiegel.
Stiegel was the second German to run a large-scale glass business in America. In 1762, he built glass furnaces at Elizabeth Furnace and started making glass the next year. His early output included bottles and window panes. To grow the business, he hired skilled glassblowers from Europe, including a few from Venice. He also paid to bring them over to Pennsylvania. One of his first hires had worked for the Wistar glass operation.
Almost two years later, he launched another glass plant in Manheim, Pennsylvania. In 1769, he added a third factory in the same town. This one focused on fine tableware. For that, he brought on more workers from the old Wistar works. He named this venture the American Flint Glass Manufactory. It was the first glass plant in the U.S. to make lead glass. At the time, lead glass, often called crystal, was clear and colorless, usually reserved for upscale table items. According to the American Philosophical Society, his lead glass matched the beauty and quality of the flint glass coming from England.
Stiegel sold his glass through retail shops in different colonies. But he grew the business too fast. In 1774, he had to shut down production. He even spent a short time in debtors' prison.
The Stanger family came to Philadelphia in 1768 from Hesse, Germany. They were experienced glassmakers and had seven sons. At least one worked at the Wistar factory. Between 1779 and 1781, the Stanger brothers started their own glass plant in what would become Glassboro, New Jersey. It likely started producing glass in the fall of 1781. Solomon Stanger, who owned the land, and his brother Daniel led the project. This was the second glassworks to open in South Jersey after Wistar. Their first products were mainly bottles.
By 1784, all the Stanger brothers had sold their shares in the Glassboro factory, but they kept working in glass elsewhere. Around that time, Thomas Heston and Thomas Carpenter took control of the plant. They added new products, like window glass, to go along with bottles. Heston died in 1802, but the factory kept going under new owners for more than a century. The Whitney brothers, who were related to Heston, eventually took it over. The plant was once called the Olive Glass Works. In 1839, the Whitney brothers became the sole owners. In 1918, one of Michael Owens' companies bought the Whitney Glass Works.
Amelung and the Short-Lived Glass Empire in Maryland
Johann Friedrich Amelung, who later went by John Frederick Amelung, landed in Baltimore on August 31, 1784. He wasn’t alone. He brought 68 glassworkers who spoke German, and at least 14 more joined him in the following months. He bought land in Frederick County, Maryland, near Bennett’s Creek, just north and east of Sugarloaf Mountain. He named the place New Bremen. There, he set up a glass furnace and built housing for his workers.
On February 11, 1785, he publicly announced that a group of German craftsmen had arrived to start a factory. He said they would be producing window glass, table glass, optical glass, and looking glass.
By 1788, Amelung’s glass factory had grown fast. He had 342 people working for him. They made window glass using both the cylinder method and the crown method. Archaeological finds show that his bottles were made from clear green glass and didn’t need molds.
That same year, Amelung asked the State of Maryland for a loan. He got the money and also secured a five-year tax exemption. But trouble followed. Over the next two years, the glassworks suffered at least two fires. No one knows exactly how much damage they caused, but it didn’t help his finances. By 1795, he had to put the factory up for sale.
At the time, no one had ever poured as much money into American glassmaking as Amelung had. His factory produced high-quality work, but the business didn’t survive. After eleven years, it failed. Amelung died in 1798.
18th-Century Glass Factories Still Running in the 19th Century
By 1800, most glass used in the U.S. still came from Europe. The country only had around ten glass factories at the time. Most of those were set up near waterways for easy transport. While a few places like Philadelphia and Baltimore may have made high-end tableware, most factories were focused on bottles and window glass.
Kensington Glass Works
In 1771, Robert Towars and James Leacock opened the Kensington Glass Works in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. There were already glassworks nearby in Bucks and Lancaster counties, but this was the first of its kind in Philadelphia County. The factory may have run on coal, which would make it one of the first American glassworks to do so. In November 1772, John Elliott, Samuel Elliott, and Isaac Gray took over. They renamed it the Philadelphia Glass Works. They made window glass along with both white and green glass. The factory didn’t run consistently. It went through long stretches of inactivity and changed hands several times over the next century.
Stanger Brothers Glass Works
The Stanger Brothers started making glass in Glassboro, New Jersey, around 1781. In 1783, Thomas Heston and Thomas Carpenter took over. The factory kept running under different owners, including Heston’s descendants, until it was finally sold in 1918.
Aetna Glass House
Maryland’s first governor, Thomas Johnson, owned the Aetna Glass House. People also called it the Johnson Glass Works. It sat near Bush Creek, southeast of Frederick, Maryland. The factory opened in 1792 and mainly made bottles. Later on, they added window glass to their production. The works went up for sale in November 1793. It ran off and on until 1807. By the 1820s, glassmaking in all of Frederick County had stopped.
Kohlenberg’s New Glassworks
In 1797, Adam Kohlenberg and John Christian Gabler bought part of the land where John Frederick Amelung’s glassworks had failed. The property, on Bennet’s Creek in Frederick County, Maryland, still had one of Amelung’s old glass ovens. Kohlenberg hired some of the same workers from Amelung’s New Bremen factory. His own works produced glass off and on for about 15 years.
Federal Hill Glass Works
In 1799, Frederick Amelung, son of John Frederick Amelung, opened his own glass factory in Baltimore. The official name was Frederick M. Amelung and Company, and it was located in the Federal Hill area. Over time, people started calling it the Federal Hill Glass Works or the Baltimore Glass Works. Some also referred to it as the Patapsco River Glass House or the Hughes Street Works, based on where it stood. Production began in 1800, with a focus on bottles and glassware. Amelung lost control of the company early on, but he stayed on as superintendent until 1806. The factory kept going through the late 1820s and became known for making pictorial flasks.
Pittsburgh Glass Works (O'Hara and Craig)
In 1796, Colonel James O'Hara and Major Isaac Craig started planning the first glass factory in Pittsburgh. It was also one of the earliest to use coal as fuel. Peter William Eichbaum, who had worked at the Schuylkill glassworks near Philadelphia, brought in the technical know-how and oversaw the build. The plant was built at Coal Hill, which is now called Mount Washington. It sat on the south side of the Monongahela River, right where it flows into the Ohio River. Production started in June 1797, making this the first U.S. glass factory west of the Allegheny Mountains. The factory was called Pittsburgh Glass Works, and Eichbaum served as superintendent. He leased the plant in 1798, but O'Hara and Craig took back full control in 1800. They made window glass, bottles, and other hollowware. Craig left in 1804, and O'Hara stayed in charge until 1818. The glassworks kept running under different owners and names until 1883.
New Geneva Glass Works
In 1795, Albert Gallatin teamed up with his brother-in-law James Nicholson and three others to buy land in Fayette County, western Pennsylvania. They named the place New Geneva and planned to use it for business development. The location gave them a solid advantage. They had river access to the west through the Monongahela and road access to major eastern cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC.
By September 1797, the group had signed an agreement with five German glassblowers to get a glassworks running. Production kicked off in 1798, not long after the O’Hara and Craig glass factory started up in Pittsburgh. The New Geneva site was about 45 miles south of that Pittsburgh plant. Most of Gallatin’s workers were German, and some had previously worked at Amelung’s glassworks. The company first operated under the name Gallatin & Company, but it was later renamed the New Geneva Glass Works. Gallatin sold his part of the business in 1803. In 1807, the factory was moved across the Monongahela River to Greensboro in Greene County. That new spot gave them easier access to coal. The factory kept running until 1847.
Ohio Glass Works
In May 1799, Hugh Scott bought land on the north bank of the Ohio River near the O’Hara and Craig plant. He started the Ohio Glass Company, and it began producing window glass in 1800. But it didn’t last. The works shut down by March 1801.
Pitkin Glass Works
Back in 1783, William and Elisha Pitkin, along with Samuel Bishop, set up a glass factory in East Hartford, Connecticut. That town later became part of Manchester in 1823. This was the first glassworks in Connecticut that was actually built and produced anything. They made bottles in different sizes and colors. J. P. Foster was one of the factory’s superintendents. He took over in 1810 and ran things until 1830. By then, they had run out of enough timber to keep the furnaces going, and the factory closed.
Peterboro-Goff
Around 1783, David Goff and a group of investors from Connecticut started a glassworks in Peterborough, New York, which is now called Peterboro. They chose the spot because of the heavy supply of wood nearby, which they needed to fire the furnaces. There was also quality sand within 20 miles. The factory ran until 1813. It didn’t survive for two reasons: nearby competitors were making better glass, and the local forests started running dry.
Albany Glass Works
In 1785, Leonard de Neufville joined forces with Jan Heefke and Ferdinand Walfahrt to build the Albany Glass Works at Dowesborough, New York, about 15 miles west of Albany. The factory’s layout looked a lot like the one used by Amelung in Maryland. They hired German workers, and production of window glass likely started in 1786. But de Neufville didn’t manage the business well, and the factory shut down by 1790.
In 1792, James Caldwell and his partners reopened the site. They started making window glass again and renamed it the Albany Glass House. In the summer of 1794, a fire hit the factory hard, but by December they had both the old plant and a new one back in operation. Still, more money problems followed in 1795. Thomas and Samuel Mather took over. They made window glass and bottles. The operation probably closed for good in 1815 when they ran out of fuel.
Boston Crown Glass Company and Other Short-Lived Early Glassworks
The Boston Crown Glass Company was formed on July 6, 1787, by Robert Hewes, Samuel Walley, John Gore, and eight other men. Even though the company was set up in the 1780s, actual glass production didn’t start until November 11, 1793. The first factory stood on Essex Street in Boston and made high-quality window glass. In 1809, the company changed hands and was reorganized. A second factory was built in South Boston in 1811. The company shut down in 1827. One of the buildings later burned down in 1929.
Some glass factories from the 1700s didn’t make it into the 1800s. These were early efforts that didn’t last, but they still show how glassmaking was slowly taking root across different regions. One of these, the Schuylkill glass works, might have been the first in America to run its furnace on coal.
Barge Glass Works
Jacob Barge started making glass in 1760 in Pennsylvania. His factory was in Bucks County, near Philadelphia. Archaeologists found signs that window glass was made there using the cylinder method. The factory also turned out a mix of bottles. It stayed active through 1784.
Schuylkill Glass Works
In 1794, John Nicholson built a glass plant on Philadelphia’s west side, near the falls of the Schuylkill River. Peter William Eichbaum, who knew the trade well, handled the construction and guided the work. By 1795, they were making glass. This factory likely ran its furnaces on coal, which may have been a first in the U.S. They mainly made bottles, but probably produced some window glass too. By 1797, money problems and worker strikes over unpaid wages led to the plant's assets being seized.
Foltz, Kramer & Eberhart
Maryland’s first major glassworks was set up around 1780 in Frederick County. The investors were Conrad Foltz, Martin Eberhart, and four Kramer brothers: Balthazer, Adam, Martin, and George. Some of them had worked at the Stiegel glass factory before. When Foltz died in 1784, the business was sold to John Frederick Amelung.
Tuscarora Glass House
Thomas Johnson, who owned the Aetna Glass Works, also built a smaller industrial site that included a glass shop. This site was near Tuscarora Creek, north of Frederick, Maryland. The setup included a mill and a tannery along with the glassworks. It was finished by 1793 or earlier. But by 1798, the glass plant was already out of service.
Glasshouse Company of New York, New Found Land
In 1752, a group in New York - Matthew Earnest, Samuel Bayard, Loderwyck Bamper, and Christian Hertell - teamed up with Johan Martin Greiner from Saxe-Weimar in Europe to start a glassworks. Greiner was brought over to lead the construction and teach glassmaking. They called it the Glass House Company of New York. The factory was set up on land along the Hudson River, an area later known as New Found Land. Newspaper ads show the factory was up and running by October 1754, mostly producing bottles. The business shut down sometime before 1762. By 1767, the land and buildings were being offered for sale.
Early Glassworks in the American Colonies
In the mid-1700s, several small glassmaking ventures started up across the colonies. Some got off the ground and ran for years. Others barely made it past the planning stage or failed soon after starting.
Glasshouse Company of New York, New Windsor
In August 1752, four men: Matthew Earnest, Samuel Bayard, Loderwyck Bamper, and Christian Hertell, bought land in New Windsor, Province of New York. They likely wanted the land for its wood supply to support their original glassworks at Glass House Farm. But they ended up building a new glasshouse on the New Windsor site. It made bottles and window glass. No one knows for sure if this location stayed active after they sold the original works at New Found Land in 1767. Some believe the New Windsor factory may have kept going until around 1785.
Brooklyn Glass Works
Loderwyck Bamper also started a glassworks in 1754 in Brooklyn, which at the time was still part of the Province of New York. The factory made bottles, but there’s little proof that production actually took place or lasted long.
Braintree Glass Bottle Works
In Massachusetts, Peter Etter, Joseph Crellins, Norton Quincy, and John Franklin started a glass bottle factory near Braintree, which is now part of Quincy. That business didn’t last. It failed before 1752 and was leased to Joseph Palmer. He worked on fixing up the site, but the whole place burned down around 1756.
New England Glassworks (Temple, New Hampshire)
Robert Hewes, a businessman from Boston, set up the New England Glassworks in 1780. It shouldn’t be confused with the better-known New England Glass Company. Hewes built his plant in Temple, New Hampshire, and hired German glassworkers. Some local stories claim these workers were former Hessian soldiers from the British army, but that isn’t true. The factory burned down right after construction. They rebuilt it, and by summer they were making crown glass for windows. But by winter 1781 to 1782, the project ran out of money and was abandoned.
India Point Glass House
Around 1796, politician John Brown launched a glassworks at India Point in Providence, Rhode Island. The factory mainly produced bottles for a nearby distillery. It was a small operation and probably shut down by 1799.
Darling’s Glassmaking Attempt
In 1747, Thomas Darling was given exclusive rights to produce glass in the Connecticut Colony for the next 20 years. But he never met the requirements to get production going, and the project never moved forward.
Crellins’ Failed Glass Works Plan
In 1752, the colonial governor of Massachusetts Bay gave Joseph Crellins permission to open a glass factory. The deal only stood if he could bring in skilled German workers. He couldn’t meet that condition before the agreement expired, and the plan never got off the ground.
Winslow’s Rhode Island Effort
In the same year, 1752, Isaac C. Winslow got exclusive rights to make glass in the Colony of Rhode Island. But no actual glass production ever happened.
19th Century American Glassmaking
At the start of the 1800s, glassmaking in the U.S. was small and slow. Fewer than a dozen factories were even operating. Most high-quality glass came from overseas. England controlled key materials, like fine sand and red lead, which made it hard for American makers to compete. On top of that, tariffs and the War of 1812 made things worse for anyone trying to produce crystal glass in the States.
After the war ended, things didn’t get much easier. English glassmakers started flooding the U.S. market with cheap glassware. Their low prices forced some American glass factories to shut down. A protective tariff helped push back against that, and one Boston businessman, Deming Jarves, played a big role in turning things around. His work brought new energy and direction to the local industry.
The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 added a lot of western territory to the U.S. That opened up fresh markets for American glass products. Glassmakers based in Pittsburgh and Wheeling, both along the Ohio River, could use the waterways to move their goods around. That gave them a big advantage. Later on, as the railroad industry took off during the second half of the century, moving glass by rail became another option. That change in transportation helped the glass trade reach more places.
Another thing that changed was how glass furnaces were powered. Coal started replacing wood as the main fuel. That, along with the East Coast running out of trees, pushed glassmakers to move inland. By the middle of the century, most glass factories had moved to places like Pittsburgh and parts of West Virginia. Those areas had easier access to fuel and transport, which made them more attractive to manufacturers.
Later, when natural gas was discovered in Ohio and Indiana, those regions saw a rush of glassmakers trying to cash in. It worked for a while. The fuel was cheap and easy to get. But the boom didn’t last. The gas was overused and poorly managed, and eventually, the supply ran out. That left some factories in trouble again.
Getting quality glass made in the U.S. was tough in the early 1800s. England still had control over red lead, which was a critical ingredient in making good glassware. When the U.S. passed the Embargo Act in 1807, and then went to war with Britain in 1812, it became nearly impossible for American companies to get red lead. Without it, their products couldn’t match the quality of imported ones.
After the war, the English started selling glass in America at prices so low that many U.S. glassmakers couldn’t keep up. Some went bankrupt. But in 1824, the U.S. passed a new tariff that offered more protection to American industries. That gave glassmakers some breathing room. Between 1820 and 1840, around 70 new glass factories opened up. Most were still small, usually hiring between 25 and 40 workers.
Things started to change when Deming Jarves figured out how to make red lead using lead oxide from inside the U.S. That changed everything. He made higher-quality glass more available and cut the industry's reliance on foreign materials. Jarves, who would later be known as the “father of the American glass industry,” was one of the key figures in this growth.
One of the biggest breakthroughs of the 1820s was machine-pressed glass. This was a method of pressing molten glass into molds, which made production faster and more consistent. Bakewell and Company, New England Glass Company, and Jarves' own Boston and Sandwich Glass Company were among the first to use this method. It became a turning point for the industry.
Labor and Fuel: The Two Big Costs in 19th-Century American Glassmaking
Labor cost the most for glass manufacturers during the 1800s. Skilled workers were essential, and most of them were German. For a long time, Germans led the glassmaking scene in America. Back then, glassmaking was treated like a trade secret. Techniques and formulas were closely guarded. In fact, many European countries banned their glassworkers from moving to the United States. But that didn’t stop everyone. Some glassworkers were smuggled into the country, often in secret deals.
Companies soon realized how risky this was. If a top worker quit or switched jobs, their knowledge left with them. That was a serious problem. Deming Jarves, the same man who helped build up the American glass industry, got involved in 1809. He wasn’t a glassmaker himself at first. He came in as an investor, but he was smart. He started writing down glass formulas and learned everything he could from the experts he hired. He also ran his own tests. He focused not just on recipes, but also on how the materials were melted and cooled. That helped him lock down the process. His company didn’t have to rely on one person to hold all the knowledge. If someone left, the process stayed. That change in thinking helped the industry grow with less risk.
After labor, fuel was the next biggest cost. And just like with labor, it had a big impact on where factories got built. At first, glassmakers in the U.S. used wood to power their furnaces. Coal came into the picture in the 1790s. But wood burned fast. During peak production, one factory could wipe out a chunk of forest the size of a football field every week. That wasn’t sustainable. By around 1850, the industry had already moved away from the East Coast. Places like Pittsburgh and parts of West Virginia became the new hubs. Those areas had steady coal supplies and weren’t as heavily logged.
Natural gas and oil weren’t in the picture until the 1870s. They showed up in Pennsylvania and West Virginia first. When natural gas was found in northwest Ohio during the 1880s, it triggered a wave of factory moves. Ohio also had solid railroad access, which helped with shipping. East Central Indiana saw a similar gas rush soon after. Its gas field was actually bigger than both the Ohio and Pennsylvania fields put together.
One major company that came out of this boom was the Ball brothers' glassworks in Muncie, Indiana. They were the ones who made the famous Ball mason jars. But like most booms, the gas rush didn’t last. By 1891, northwest Ohio started having supply problems. Indiana ran into the same issue a decade later. By 1901, the Indiana Gas Boom was over. The pressure dropped because people had wasted the gas and assumed it would never run out. They were wrong.
Transportation and the Growth of American Glassmaking
Transportation played a big role in how and where glassmaking took off in the U.S. When Edward Libbey decided to move the New England Glass Company in 1888, the main reason he picked Toledo, Ohio, was access to solid transport routes. Toledo had the Great Lakes, the Miami and Erie Canal that linked to the Ohio River, and a bunch of railroad lines running through it. That combination made it easy to bring in supplies and ship out finished glass.
Long before highways and railroads, American glass factories depended on rivers and canals to move goods. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 opened up new markets, and glass factories along the Ohio River could send their products downriver with ease. Then, in 1811, steamboats started running in the western U.S. That made it easier to ship products both down and up the rivers, which was a game-changer for inland factories.
Also in 1811, the U.S. began building the National Road, starting in Cumberland, Maryland. By 1818, the road had reached Wheeling, and by the 1830s, it stretched all the way to Illinois. It was the first federally funded highway and helped move goods and people west. But once railroads came along, things changed fast. The first U.S. commercial railroad was chartered in 1827 and broke ground the next year. By the early 1850s, Pittsburgh and Wheeling had rail service, which cut down use of the National Road.
By 1900, railroads had taken over. The U.S. had more than 193,000 miles of track and over 1,200 railroads running. That gave glassmakers a fast, steady way to get their goods across the country.
Early Struggles with Materials and Labor
Around 1800, there were probably no more than ten glass factories operating in the whole country. Most of them made window panes or green glass bottles. Hardly any fine glassware was being made. There were two big reasons for that. First, there weren’t many skilled glassblowers in the U.S. Second, makers didn’t have access to a key ingredient needed for crystal glass: red lead.
England had a tight grip on red lead and also supplied most of the high-quality glass being sold in the U.S. The Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812 made it almost impossible for American companies to get red lead from overseas. That shut the door on high-end production for a while.
During the war, even finding good sand was tough. The only top-grade sand being imported came from the island of Demerara, and British ships were the ones bringing it. Once the war ended, the problems didn’t go away. England started dumping cheap glass products into the U.S. market, while still charging high prices for red lead. That move crushed some American glass businesses. The Boston Crown Glass Company was one of those that couldn’t keep up and had to close.
Steamboats helped U.S. companies stay in the game. Imports could now come into New Orleans and move up the Mississippi River to reach markets across the western states. But British competition was still brutal. Factories kept folding.
Jarves and the Push for Domestic Materials
After Boston Crown Glass shut down, Deming Jarves, who had been one of its owners, took a different path. He found a way to make red lead using lead oxide from inside the U.S. By 1819, he was making a solid supply of it. That breakthrough helped change control of materials back to American hands.
And it wasn’t just red lead. Better sand was also found in the U.S., in places like the Berkshires in Massachusetts, the Monongahela River region in Pennsylvania, and in parts of New Jersey. With better materials and more supply at home, things started to turn around.
By 1820, there were only 33 glass factories in the country. But with the help of the protective Tariff of 1824, which made it harder for cheap imports to flood the market, American glassmaking got a second wind. Between 1820 and 1840, nearly 70 new factories opened. Most were small shops with 25 to 40 workers each.
Jarves stayed at the center of this growth. He formed the New England Glass Company in 1818. By 1825, that company was exporting cut crystal glass to Europe. A lot of the workers Jarves used were skilled immigrants from England and Germany. He even smuggled in Belgian glass cutters because they had the best skills for fine work. That level of craft helped his company compete globally.
Bakewell & Ensell and the Rise of Pressed Glass in the U.S.
In 1808, a glass company called Bakewell & Ensell was founded in what was then the western part of the U.S. Over time, the company went through a few name changes but eventually became the most well-known glassmaker in Pittsburgh. Deming Jarves, a major figure in American glassmaking, once called the founder, Benjamin Bakewell, the “father of the flint glass business” in the country.
Like Jarves, Bakewell brought over skilled workers from England. At the time, moving trained glassmakers across borders like that was illegal, but he did it anyway to get the talent he needed. From 1817 to 1822, the company barely held on. It was struggling. But it survived and kept going for more than 70 years. In the 1820s and 1830s, their glassware was even bought for the White House by Presidents James Monroe and Andrew Jackson.
In 1825, John P. Bakewell patented a new method for pressing glass to make furniture knobs. Other glassmakers were working on similar ideas at the same time. Henry Whitney and Enoch Robinson from the New England Glass Company got a patent for pressing glass in 1826. The next year, Phineas C. Dummer, George Dummer, and James Maxwell from Jersey City Glass Works received patents tied to pressing and mold techniques. One historian later said that mechanical pressing was the most important advance in glassmaking since the Romans first discovered how to blow glass.
Pressing glass wasn’t new. People had been doing it since the 1st century. But this new mechanical method was a game changer. It cut costs and made production faster. Factories didn’t need highly trained glassblowers anymore. Unskilled workers could do the job and make more glass in less time. That opened the door to mass production and brought prices down. More people could afford to buy glassware, and there were more styles and shapes available than ever before.
The New England Glass Company and Jarves’ new firm, the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, were among the first to use this technology on a large scale. His new company launched in 1825. Bakewell, Page & Bakewell joined in soon after, becoming one of many firms turning out pressed glass.
At the same time, transportation was getting better across the country. Railroads were starting to expand, and that helped all manufacturers, including glassmakers. In 1828, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad began building a line to connect Baltimore’s harbor with the Ohio River. The first stretch was just 13 miles, linking Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills in Maryland. That section opened in 1830.
By 1835, there were over 1,000 miles of railroad in the U.S. Five years later, it was up to nearly 2,900 miles. In 1852, the Baltimore and Ohio line finally reached the Ohio River at Wheeling, which was in Virginia at the time but is now part of West Virginia.
East Coast Glassmaking Declines as Pittsburgh Rises
By 1850, glassmaking on the East Coast had hit its peak. After that, many plants started moving west, especially to Pittsburgh. Coal was easy to get there, and worked better as furnace fuel. That change was a big deal for the industry.
In 1850, over 3,200 free men aged 15 and older were working in glass manufacturing across the U.S. Pennsylvania had the largest share, with about 40 percent of the glassmaking workforce. A few other states also had more than 100 glass workers each: New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia, which at the time included what’s now West Virginia.
The country’s rail system was also expanding fast. In 1850, the U.S. had over 10,000 miles of track. Just ten years later, that number had tripled to more than 30,000 miles. Railroads made it easier and cheaper to ship goods, including glass, across long distances.
Why Pittsburgh Took the Lead
Pittsburgh had a big head start. Two rivers, the Allegheny and Monongahela, joined there to form the Ohio River, giving glassmakers great access to shipping routes. On top of that, the city had nearby coal and high-grade sand, both essential for glassmaking.
By 1837, Pittsburgh already had 15 glass factories. Two nearby counties, Fayette and Washington, had 13 more. That momentum only grew. By the mid-1800s, Pittsburgh had become the center of the U.S. glass industry. By 1857, it was home to around 33 glassworks. Nine of those made flint glass, which is a type of crystal. The rest focused on everyday glass-like bottles and window panes.
One standout company from the area was Bakewell, Pears and Company. It was best known for its crystal, including finely cut and engraved glassware. But they also made things like bottles, window glass, and lamps.
South Wheeling and the Hobbs Factory
In 1845, two former supervisors from the New England Glass Company, James B. Barnes and John L. Hobbs, started their own operation. They opened the South Wheeling Glass Works on the south side of Wheeling, Virginia, right next to a coal mine. Later, in 1863, the company changed its name to J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company. That name stuck until 1881.
During that time, the company came up with a new glass formula that ended up changing the entire industry. Their factory made all kinds of glassware, though they didn’t make bottles or window glass. Their range stretched from simple kerosene lamps to decorative art glass that collectors still value today.
By 1879, South Wheeling Glass Works had become the biggest glass factory in the U.S. They pushed forward with three big innovations: they used benzine in the polishing furnace, cooled molds with cold air, and developed a new lime-based glass formula called soda-lime glass.
The Leightons and Soda-Lime Glass
In 1863, William Leighton Sr. and his son, William Jr., left the New England Glass Company and joined the Hobbs, Brockunier team. The older Leighton took on the role of company chemist. A year later, in 1864, he came up with a better version of soda-lime glass. This new formula didn’t use lead, but the end result looked almost as clear and polished as crystal.
That made a big difference. The ingredients for soda-lime glass were much cheaper than those used in lead crystal. Plus, this type of glass hardened faster, which meant workers had to shape it more quickly. That pushed them to develop better techniques for molding and pressing the glass.
The change led to a major drop in glassware prices. It cost only about one-fourth of what it used to. That price drop made quality glassware affordable to more people, which led to more demand. As a result, more factories were built to keep up, and the industry grew fast. Lead crystal fell out of favor as soda-lime glass took over.
American Glassmaking Expands in the Late 1800s
By 1880, glassmaking in the U.S. had grown fast. There were 211 glass factories across the country, employing more than 24,000 people. Out of those 211, only 169 were active that year. The others were either shut down or still being built. Seventy-three of them made glassware. Forty-nine produced window glass. Another 42 focused on green glass, and just five made plate glass.
Pennsylvania led the way in terms of value. It made up 41 percent of total production. New Jersey followed with 13 percent. Zooming in on Pennsylvania, Allegheny County handled nearly 27 percent of the nation's output, while Philadelphia added almost 8 percent. Other major spots included Kings County in New York, Cumberland and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey, Belmont County in Ohio, Ohio County in West Virginia, and Floyd County in Indiana. These places each made up between about 6 and 3 percent of national production. Glass was made in plenty of other areas too, but only five more counties managed to grab over 2 percent of the market.
Then came the gas rush. The discovery of natural gas in Ohio and Indiana shook things up. Many factories packed up and moved closer to this cheap new fuel, while others launched brand-new operations. People already knew gas existed near Findlay, Ohio, by 1884. But everything changed when the Karg well was drilled two years later. It was in the heart of Findlay, and the flame it produced could be seen all the way from Toledo, 40 miles out.
West Virginia and the area near Pittsburgh had found gas a decade earlier, but the Findlay well got a lot more attention. Gas wasn't just cheaper than coal. It was cleaner and burned hotter, which was ideal for melting glass. Towns like Findlay, Fostoria, Tiffin, North Baltimore, and Toledo started offering free gas to attract companies. And it worked. Over 100 glass businesses either moved to or started in northwest Ohio, drawn in by the promise of low-cost energy from the Findlay gas field and a smaller one nearby in North Baltimore.
But the boom didn’t last. The gas supply in the region ran dry after about five years. When that happened, most factories had to move again, this time toward more reliable fuel sources. The Fostoria Glass Company left Ohio for Moundsville, West Virginia. Sneath Glass Company left Tiffin for Hartford City, Indiana.
Indiana’s own gas story started earlier than people think. Gas was first found in Pulaski County in 1865 by a team looking for oil. They hit gas instead but didn’t know how to use it, so they walked away. A more important discovery happened in Eaton, Indiana, in 1876. At that time, drillers were looking for coal. They struck gas instead, but again, nobody paid attention.
It wasn't until 1886, after the buzz from Ohio, that people returned to Eaton and drilled again. This time, they hit a solid supply of gas 922 feet down. Flames shot up ten feet from four open pipes. That sparked more drilling, and large amounts of gas were soon found across 17 Indiana counties.
Indiana’s gas field turned out to be the biggest in the world. It was larger than the ones in Pennsylvania and Ohio combined. A full-blown gas boom followed. The state went from being mostly farmland to a hub of factories. Glassmakers came in droves. In 1880, Indiana ranked eighth in glass production. By 1890, it had jumped to fourth. It had just four glass factories in 1880. By 1890, that number hit 21. Five years later, it reached 50.
Indiana had more going for it than just gas. Rail lines crisscrossed the state, and a coal field sat not far from the gas belt. That helped some companies stay put even after the gas ran low.
But Indiana repeated Ohio’s mistakes. Despite warnings from the state geologist, people burned through the gas too fast. By 1901, the Indiana gas boom was over.
Libbey Glass, Michael Owens, and the Rise of Automation
In 1888, Edward Libbey relocated the New England Glass Company from East Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Toledo, Ohio. Later that same year, he hired a skilled glassblower named Michael Joseph Owens. Owens had worked for J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company, and came in hoping to land a foreman role. In 1892, the company officially changed its name to Libbey Glass Company.
Owens, born in 1859 and later known as one of the most important names in American glassmaking, ended up holding 49 patents. He pushed the industry into a new era with automation. In the early 1890s, he designed a machine that could blow light bulbs into molds. His method was cheaper and didn’t need as many skilled workers to run. That alone started to change how glass was made.
Then, in 1898, Owens started building a machine to make bottles automatically. Over time, better versions of that machine were developed. From 1908 to 1927, more than 330 of them were built. The difference in output was massive. A skilled glassblower could only produce one bottle per minute. Owens’ machine could make 24 in the same time. On top of that, the bottles all came out with consistent sizes and shapes.
This made a big difference in how food, drink, and medicine were packaged. With standardized bottles, those industries could now use machines to fill, cap, and ship glass products. That’s how items like milk bottles, beer bottles, fruit jars, and other containers became common. The cost to make them dropped, and they were easier to handle on a large scale.
Later, Owens worked with Irving Wightman Colburn to invent a new way to make window glass. Their method, called the Colburn process, took off in 1917 and changed how window panes were made.
Child Labor and the Changing Workforce
In the late 1800s, child labor was widespread. It was called one of the worst problems of the time. The biggest industries using child workers were coal mining, textile production, and glassmaking. In the glass factories, kids as young as 10 were considered necessary by some industry leaders. They were cheap to hire and easy to control.
Between 20 and 45 percent of all workers in glass factories were kids. Many were between eight and twelve years old. Their jobs usually involved moving materials, cleaning the work areas, handling the annealing process, and packaging finished glassware. It was tough, dangerous, and exhausting.
Ohio was one of the few states that had laws protecting children. It didn’t allow kids under 12 to work in factories at all. For older kids, it set a limit of 10 hours per day. That was a rare move at the time, but it set a precedent for other states.
As automation improved and new labor laws started to take effect, the number of children in the glass workforce dropped. From 1890 to 1905, around 19,000 workers were added to the glassmaking industry, and 18,000 of those were adult men. Many were immigrants. Skilled workers mostly came from Belgium, England, France, and Germany. Other immigrants were often stuck with the lowest-paying jobs.
The push for automation helped reduce the need for kids in the factories. When Owens created his mold-blown light bulb machine, there was no longer a need for mold boys to help in the process. The John H. Lubbers machine, which made window glass, did away with the need for skilled blowers altogether.
Owens’ bottle machine had two major effects on child labor. First, it cut down on the manpower needed to make bottles. Second, it made bottles more uniform, which allowed companies to use high-speed filling and packing machines. That trimmed even more jobs that used to go to kids.
In 1913, the National Child Labor Committee in New York praised Owens’ machine. They said it played a big part in ending child labor in the glassmaking industry.
Late 19th Century Glassmaking Struggles and Industry Changes
Even with all the advances in glassmaking, the end of the 1800s was a tough time for manufacturers. The U.S. economy hit six recessions during the 1880s and 1890s. It wasn’t just slow business... three major banking panics hit during this time. The Panic of 1884, the Panic of 1890, and especially the Panic of 1893 caused serious damage. That last one was one of the worst financial collapses in U.S. history. Depending on who you ask, unemployment stayed in the double digits for five or six years between 1890 and 1900. At the same time, prices kept falling. From 1880 to 1900, consumer prices dropped by nearly 14 percent. Most years saw no price change or a drop, which made it even harder for companies to stay afloat.
Then came more pressure from overseas. In 1894, the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act took effect. It made imports cheaper, and glass imports jumped 48 percent. That meant U.S. glassmakers had even more competition. A few years later, the Dingley Tariff of 1897 tried to fix that by raising tariffs again and slowing down some of the imported goods.
With prices down and competition rising, glass companies had no choice but to cut costs. That’s when a lot of them started merging into trusts. These were big groups of companies that tried to control supply, set prices, and survive the economic mess. Some of the biggest were the National Glass Company, the United States Glass Company, and the American Window Glass Company.
By 1893, the United States Glass Company had absorbed 16 tableware manufacturers. The National Glass Company pulled in 19 different firms and ended up controlling about 75 percent of all glass tableware production in the country. Then, in 1898, the American Window Glass Company formed. It took control of more than half of the country’s window glass production. That was partly because it brought in many of the large factories already using tank furnaces.
By the end of the century, in 1899, the U.S. had 355 glassworks and more than 55,000 people working in the industry. Pennsylvania led the nation in total production value, making up 39 percent of it. Indiana followed with 26 percent. After that came New Jersey with 9 percent, and Ohio with 8 percent.
When it came to building glass, like window, plate, and wire glass, Pennsylvania was at the top. Indiana was next and made more than double what all the other states combined produced, not counting Pennsylvania. For pressed and blown glass, Pennsylvania still led, followed by Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and New York. Bottles and jars were a different story. Indiana led that category, with New Jersey and Pennsylvania behind it.
That year, bottles and jars made up 38 percent of all the glass produced, based on value. Pressed and blown glass, and building glass, each made up 30 percent. The last two percent came from everything else. Of all the building glass made, about two-thirds of it was plain window glass.
