1791 - The whiskey rebellion made whiskey and whiskey production very popular creating a demand for glass jars, bottles and flasks for distribution purposes. Bottles generally held a pint or two of whiskey and often marked with patriotic motifs.
1797 - Pittsburgh Glass Works, the first glass house in Pittsburgh and west of the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountains, was founded by General James O’Hara and Major Isaac Craig. Located on the south side of the Monongahela River.
1800- The government allowed Ohio land to be purchased on credit. This created rapid settlement in Ohio
1803 - Purchase of Louisiana from France opened more land available for settlement and the increase in population created a demand for glass
1807 - The embargo of 1807 stopped foreign glass from entering the U.S. calling on domestic glass houses to fill the need. George Robinson, a carpenter, and Edward Ensell, an English glassworker, began establishing a flint glass house but due to lack of capital were unable to finish it and had to offer it for sale
1808 - Benjamin Bakewell founds Bakewell & Ensell. Bakewell and partner at the time Benjamin Page purchased the property from Edward Ensell, an English glassworker, and kept him on for his skills in glasswork. The work was completed and in 1809 and the company became B. Bakewell and Co. Bakewell had many different business partners, however his longest partner was John P. Pears.
1812 - The War of 1812 doubled the duty on foreign glass, and the necessity for depending on domestic raw materials united the East and West, and the demand for domestic products grew.
1816 - Bakewell, Page & Bakewell gifts two cut glass decanters to President Madison, and in 1817 Presidents Monroe purchased $1000 of cut-glass tableware for the White House. 1825 General Lafayette is presented with two cut glass vases when he visited Pittsburgh and compares the quality of the glass to that of French glass. 1832 President Jackson orders $1,500 worth of cut glass tableware for the White House. These events helped rekindle the popularity of glass as well as enhancing the company's reputation.
1826 - Bakewell receives patents for furniture knobs, handles and glass pressing modified from the first Glass Press patented by the New England Company. Pittsburgh based glasshouses, Bakewell, Page & Bakewell, and John Robinson’s Stourbridge Flint Glass Works use this new technology allowing glass objects to become affordable to more customers.
1834 - The completion of the Pennsylvania Water System gave Pittsburgh the advantage of better transportation though the waterway system east across PA
1840 - The Pennsylvania and Ohio Cross Cut Canal was completed securing Pittsburgh’s distribution access to Lake Erie at Cleveland
1845 - The Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroyed over a thousand buildings in Pgh
1850 - Cunningham Glass founded by William Cunningham. Frederick and James Mckee founded the company F.&J. Mckee on Pittsburgh’s South Side. The name Mckee would be synonymous with glass in Western Pennsylvania from the point on.
1869 - James Reddick and Thomas Evans started Reddick & Co. Evans got started in glass at age 13 at Bakewell, Pears & Co.
1875 - Andrew Carnegie began began steel production at Edgar Thomson Steel Works which became the Carnegie Steel Company - new technologies started to bring the industrial glass age to an end
1878 - Pittsburgh Novelty Glass Company an outgrowth of a glass company started by W.H.Maxwell
American Flint Glass Workers of North America founded United Glass Workers Union due to disputes over work rates, wages, safety, and the introduction of labor- saving machines.
American Flint Glass Workers of North America founded United Glass Workers Union due to disputes over work rates, wages, safety, and the introduction of labor- saving machines.
1880 - two local salesmen organized the Pittsburgh Glass Show at the Monongahela House, attracting national buyers to the city. Glass companies from around the country and region came to set up displays of their new products for wholesale. The show moved to the Fort Pitt Hotel in 1910. By the mid-1920’s more than ¼ of the country’s annual glass sales took place during the two week Glass Show each January.
1883 - New York City Plate Glass Co.located in Creighton, Pa., changed its name to Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. to better reflect its location. In 1895 the corporate headquarters were situated in Pittsburgh. During this time, the company was capable of producing 20 million square feet of plate glass a year, making it one of the major suppliers to the American market.
1889 - Glass factories on the South Side began to close to due to increased taxes and lack of room to expand
1891 - 15 primarily tableware glass companies from the South Side of Pittsburgh and surrounding areas formed the United States Glass Company conglomerate.
1899 - Pittsburgh industrialists George MacBeth and Thomas Evans purchased an automatic machine that blew lamp chimneys - their purchase cost $300,000 in patent fees but made them the largest producers of lamp chimneys and illuminating glassware in the world.
1900 - Micheal Owens unveiled a fully automatic machine that gathered glass and blew and formed bottles. Glass products could now be produced from start to finish without being touched by humans. Michael Owens and his team of engineers made the mechanical blowing of light bulbs (previously done by a team of people) possible, but cost workers their jobs.
1901 - Kopp Glass Co., originally started by Nicholas Kopp in Swissvale, Pa in 1899, took on new partners and reorganized as Pittsburgh Lamp, Brass and Glass Co. They specialized in lamps and lighting in different colors. In 1926 Pittsburgh Lamp, Brass and Glass Co. went bankrupt and became Kopp Glass Inc. focusing on railroad signals and lenses. Today Kopp Glass Inc. is the world leader in the production of lenses, traffic signals and airport and aircraft lighting.
1902 - Over 100 glass factories in the region, most factories had moved beyond the city into the Western Pa region. Factory owners preferred more open spaces to build larger factories. The developing railroad lines allowed for factories to be less dependant on the river system. Natural gas was more accessible in outlying areas, providing an affordable and clean burning fuel for factories.
1903 - John Lubbers and his research team at the American Window Glass Co. In Allegheny City, developed the first machine to make flat glass.
1905 - PPG introduced a new type of glass called Carrara Glass. This glass was advertised as “white sanitary structural glass”. The glass has a polished surface designed to be non-porous and non-absorbent that could be easily cleaned and didn’t retain odors. This glass became ideal for public restrooms, restaurants, and home kitchen and bathrooms. The first large scale use of this glass was in the Woolworth Building in New York City. It also became popular for floors and walls in operating rooms, dentists’ offices, morgues, butcher shops, bakeries, and barber shops. To help stay in business during the depression in the 1930’s, PPG campaigned for business to remodel their storefronts using Carrara Glass.
1906 - Henry Hunt founds Hunt Stained Glass Studios.
1910 - Pittsburgh Plate Glass establishes it's first glass research center
1920 - Lewis W. Chubb invented polarized glass at the Westinghouse Electric Co. in East Pittsburgh.
1940 - Synthetic materials, such as plastic became available for consumer and domestic use as well as industrial use. This posed a direct threat to glass manufacturing.
1943 - Hunt Studios was founded
1950 - Most beverage cans were made of tin-plated steel, glass no longer monopolized the bottle and container market.
1976 - The Statue of Liberty underwent a “torch-to-toe” restoration. Pittsburgh based company TRACO crafted the 25 different sized bronze encases windows made by PPG for her crown. The patented VIEW-SAFE glass is four times stronger than conventional glass to provide protection from the elements.
1982 - Emerald Art Glass is a commercial glass house that was started in a single car garage in the Manchester neighborhood of Pitts. 1996 the company moved to it’s current location at Josephine Street on the South Side.
1995 - American Video Glass Co. founded in Westmoreland County. The company is a 50/50 partnership between Sony and Corning Asahi Video Products. The company produces the front panels and funnels for 27-inch and 32-inch televisions.
1998 - Gallery G Glass founded in Pittsburgh’s south side. About 20 glass companies are operating in Western Pa. Some are privately owned businesses while others are national and international companies. Some focus on specialized markets while others formed partnerships to share resources.
2001 - Pittsburgh Glass Center established. The Glass Center was established as a gallery, glass studio, and teaching facility, creating and promoting studio glass art.