The United States Glass Company was a trust

Trust (19th century)

A special trust or business trust is a business entity formed with intent to monopolize business, to restrain trade, or to fix prices. Trusts gained economic power in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some, but not all, were organized as trusts in the legal sense...

 formed by the combination of numerous glass companies. The factories were located from western Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 to Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

.

History

On February 9, 1891, the New York Times reported on the founding of the company, which included seventeen factories. After the companies combined, two new plants were built. One, an automatic facility, was constructed at Gas City, Indiana

Gas City, Indiana

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 5,940 people, 2,393 households, and 1,643 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,599.2 people per square mile . There were 2,497 housing units at an average density of 672.3 per square mile...

. A hand-worked glass operation was also added at Tiffin, Ohio

Tiffin, Ohio

Tiffin is a city in and the county seat of Seneca County, Ohio, United States. The population was 18,135 at the 2000 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Tiffin as a Tree City USA....

. The plants all received a letter designation. The main office started at South 9th and Bingham Streets, Pittsburgh, PA, in the former Ripley Glass facility, and moved to Tiffin in 1938. Over time, the factories closed until only the Tiffin plant survived. The company went bankrupt in 1963, with the Tiffin plant reorganizing as the "Tiffin Art Glass Company". The other plant which survived to that point was the Glassport, Pennsylvania

Glassport, Pennsylvania

Glassport is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately south of Pittsburgh and the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers where they form the Ohio River...

 plant. It was closed after a storm on August 3, 1963 which resulted in the factory's water tower collapsing through the plant roof. The glass furnaces cooled and hardened, and it was not cost-effective to remove the hardened glass and make the repairs that would have been needed to restart the facility.

Specialties

• Tiffin produced quality glassware with delicate etching
  Etching
  Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
  
  s. They were known for their use of color.
• The Gas City branch produced machine made kitchenware
  Kitchenware
  Kitchenware include utensils, appliances, dishes, cookware, and so on for use in the kitchen.-See also:*Cookware and bakeware*Dishware*Drinkware*List of eating utensils*List of food preparation utensils*List of Japanese cooking utensils...
  
   and dinnerware in colored glass through the 1930s.
• The factories in Pittsburgh were known for their decorating . They decorated lamps, tableware
  Tableware
  Tableware is the dishes or dishware , dinnerware , or china used for setting a table, serving food, and for dining. Tableware can be meant to include flatware and glassware...
  
   and a large line of colored glassware
  Glassware
  This list of glassware includes drinking vessels , tableware, such as dishes, and flatware used to set a table for eating a meal, general glass items such as vases, and glasses used in the catering industry whether made of glass or plastics such as polystyrene and...
  
   and crystal
  Lead glass
  Lead glass is a variety of glass in which lead replaces the calcium content of a typical potash glass. Lead glass contains typically 18–40 weight% lead oxide , while modern lead crystal, historically also known as flint glass due to the original silica source, contains a minimum of 24% PbO...
  
  .

Factory locations

• Factory A - Adams & Co., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1891-?) S. 10th and Sarah Sts.
• Factory B - Bryce Brothers, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1891-?) S. 21st and Wharton Sts.
• Factory C - Challinor, Taylor & Co., Tarentum, Pennsylvania
  Tarentum, Pennsylvania
  Tarentum is a borough in Allegheny County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is northeast of Downtown Pittsburgh, along the Allegheny River. Tarentum was an industrial center where plate glass and bottles were manufactured; bricks, lumber, steel and iron novelties, steel billets and sheets,...
  
   (1891-?)
• Factory D - George Duncan & Sons Glass, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (1891–1892, destroyed by fire) S. 10th St. near Carson St.
• Factory E - Richards & Hartley, Tarentum, Pennsylvania (1891–1893)
• Factory F - Ripley Glass, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1891-)? S. 8th and Bingham Sts.
• Factory G - Gillinder, Greensburg, Pennsylvania
  Greensburg, Pennsylvania
  Greensburg is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city is named after Nathanael Greene, a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War...
  
   (1891–1900)
• Factory H - Hobbs Glass Co., Wheeling, West Virginia
  Wheeling, West Virginia
  Wheeling is a city in Ohio and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia; it is the county seat of Ohio County. Wheeling is the principal city of the Wheeling Metropolitan Statistical Area...
  
   (1891-?)
• Factory J - Columbia Glass, Findlay, Ohio
  Findlay, Ohio
  As of the census of 2000, there were 38,967 people, 15,905 households, and 10,004 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,266.3 people per square mile . There were 17,152 housing units at an average density of 997.6 per square mile...
  
   (1891-?)
• Factory K - King Glass, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1891-1930s?) Foot of S. 18th St.
• Factory L - O'Hara Glass Co., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1891–1893) 30th St. and A.V.R.R.
• Factory M - Bellaire Goblet Co., Findlay, Ohio, (1891–1892)
• Factory N - Nickel Plate Glass, Fostoria, Ohio
  Fostoria, Ohio
  As of the census of 2000, there were 13,931 people, 5,565 households, and 3,628 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,917.6 people per square mile . There were 6,024 housing units at an average density of 829.2 per square mile...
  
   (1891–1894)
• Factory O - Central Glass, Wheeling, West Virginia (1891–1895, then resold)
• Factory P - Doyle & Co., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1891-?) S. 10th and Washington Sts.
• Factory R - A. J. Beatty & Sons, Tiffin, Ohio (1892–1963, rebuilt 1893)
• Factory S - A. J. Beatty & Sons, Steubenville, Ohio
  Steubenville, Ohio
  Steubenville is a city located along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, Ohio on the Ohio-West Virginia border in the United States. It is the political county seat of Jefferson County. It is also a principal city of the Weirton–Steubenville, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area...
  
  (1892-?)
• Factory T - Novelty Glass Company, Fostoria, Ohio (1891-?)
• Factory U - Gas City, Indiana (1894-?)
• Factory GP - Glassport, Pennsylvania (1895–1963, destroyed by tornado August 3, 1963)