Imperial Glass Company, Bellaire Ohio

Date added: September 18, 2023 Categories:

Glass production was an important industry in Ohio and played a major role in the development of Bellaire. The Imperial Glass Company was the largest glass factory under one roof in the world when the first fires were lit in the furnaces on January 23^rd, 1904. The Rodefer Gleason Glass Company and the Imperial Glass Corporation were the only companies still operating in the Bellaire area until 1982 when Rodefer Gleason ceased production, leaving Imperial Glass as the only one still in use. The factory has undergone few alterations, being in continuous use as a glass factory.

The City of Bellaire was settled in 1802 and platted in 1834. The first flint glass works, the Belmont Glass Company, was founded in 1866. The number of glass companies grew: steadily through the end of the nineteenth century. Five glass factories located in Bellaire were listed in the Wheeling Directory in 1874; this number increased to eight in 1880 and grew again to 14 in 1890. Bellaire became known as "Glass City". Tableware, window glass, bottles, and lantern chimneys were some of the items produced. The growth of the glass industry was tied to the availability of cheap fuel. Coal was abundant and natural gas was burned in Bellaire in 1873. Bellaire also had many advantages as a commercial center; transportation by both railroad and the river was readily available. Glass products from Ohio became known throughout the country.

Imperial Glass was organized in 1901 by a local group of Wheeling and Bellaire investors who were provided, by the City of Bellaire, with land and a financial incentive to locate in Bellaire. Imperial constructed its plant site in Bellaire in 1903 and became the newest of fourteen glass operations in the City. The first product was manufactured in 1904. It was expected that 500 people would be employed in the facility.

Imperial's early markets were "mass" market items, such as jelly glasses, tumblers, and tableware items to the 5-and-10 retailers. Throughout the years, Imperial continued to expand its product line. In 1929, Imperial entered bankruptcy due to the worldwide depression and the loss of markets to machine-made glass. A court-appointed receiver operated the plant, raised new capital (including in excess of $55,000 from its employees, in a "voluntary subscription") and obtained some large orders. From 1933 to 1937, on some paydays, and until cash again became available, employees were paid partially in cash and partially in Imperial Scrip. Certain Bellaire merchants honored the scrip which was later fully redeemed by the company.

Carl Guskey was appointed President in 1940 and continued in that capacity until his death in 1967. During his tenure, Imperial grew to 54 shops producing in three shifts utilizing two continuous tanks and two pot furnaces.

Imperial developed its own moulds and also acquired moulds from Belmont Tumbler Company in 1939, Central Glass Works in 1940, A.H. Heisey & Company in 1958, and Cambridge Glass Works in 1960. Many glass factories were forced to close their doors and seek new locations when inexpensive fuel was no longer available.

The Imperial Glass Company was designed and built under the direction and supervision of Harry E. Forney, Architect. Mr. Forney was born in 1866 in Switzer Township, seven miles west of Powhatan Point. He attended Wheeling public schools and as a student showed an aptitude with the pencil that attracted the attention of his teachers. Mr. Forney never attended college, but had a successful career as an architect and builder, a profession he practiced in many states of the union. He designed many of the older buildings in the area, such as the Stifel Calico Works in Wheeling, the Elig Carriage Works, Market Street, Wheeling, and George Landmesser's Saloon on N. Market in Wheeling, as well as a new building for Fostoria Glass Co., Moundsville, replacing three older structures destroyed by fire in 1908. He designed many schools, including the Union Street School in Bellaire.

Building Description

The Imperial Glass Company factory is a massive, rectangular brick industrial building, 2 stories in height with an elevated basement. An office wing extends eastward at the Northeast corner of the main building. Two acid etching rooms extend east from the building at the first-floor level on steel supports. One small brick ancillary building, now used for retail purposes, is adjacent to the east of the main building.

A small coal gasification building to the west was removed some time ago. The original 90-foot, 60,000-gallon water tower located immediately east of the main building was also removed. Numerous second-story paned windows have been removed from the second-floor level office portion of the main building.

The Imperial Glass Company factory was constructed in 1903. The steel frame and brick building is on cut stone and brick and cement foundation. Three-fourths of the basement wall is sandstone block. A string course separates the basement and 1^st floor, containing rectangular double-hung sash windows. The 1^st and 2^nd floor levels have a common bond brick pattern facade with an arcade of flat arched double-hung sash windows with stone lintels which continue below each set of three arcaded windows. A set of three flat-arched windows occur between the flat brick pilasters. An interesting detail is a Palladian-like window arrangement in gables on the north and south sides of the building. Clerestory windows along the ridgeline of the roof to light the upper stories are used over the melting tanks and finishing rooms and a sawtooth roof is used over the remainder of the factory. The office portion has a simple gable roof. The original roof was slate although only small portions of this roofing material now remain. Floors are steel-reinforced cement, laid-in brick (in the melting room), and maple tongue and groove flooring.

The three floors of factory space contain 230,000 square feet. At the time, it was one of the first buildings in the area whose framework was steel. It is reminiscent of the mills and factories built in the mid and late nineteenth century.

The interior construction of the building is generally open except for a separate walled mixing room on the north side adjacent to the railroad tracks where materials entered the factory, the office wing, a centrally located engine and boiler room, and the western one-third of the building where the glass melting tanks are located. Load-bearing brick and steel frame exterior walls are supplemented with cement columns holding steel girders supporting the floors. The roof is supported by sawtooth riveted steel trusses.

The basement level was utilized for stock, storage, and a grinding room. First-floor space was used for mixing, stock, shipping, and storage. The manufacturing activities occurring on the second level were glass melting, finishing, sorting, and packing. This arrangement of activities by level was determined by the possibility of flooding from the adjacent stream and the Ohio River. The small separated building to the east of the main building was used for hay storage used to pack the glassware in barrels.

Existing equipment is generally in the locations originally designed for each phase of the glassmaking process. Many of the original moulds, finishing machines, and presses are those originally used in the factory. Some of these are currently being considered for inclusion in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

All exterior brick walls appear to be structurally sound, although the roof needs a significant amount of repair.

The equipment utilized in the interior of the Imperial Glass Company is substantially the same type of equipment used in the production of glass in the early 1900s. Moulds made of a special cast iron alloy have designs worked into the moulds with a hammer and chisel and polished with small, handmade files. The basement storage rooms contain a large inventory of these moulds.

Each of the phases of glass-making are carried out with equipment locations as indicated on the Sanborn building drawing (1926) below, which is the same positioning of equipment existing in 1904. The processes include:

1) Mixing Room where raw materials and cullet are kept in wagons, after being mixed together in a mixing drum and conveyed over an electro-magnet to remove traces of iron.

2) "Hot Metal" Department where melting units include:

a) day tanks (one ton capacity)

b) continuous tank (100 tons kept molten 24 hours/day)

c) pot furnace with covered crucibles that protect the molten glass (used to make colored glass) from the furnace flame.

Gatherers are used to remove the glass from the melting units and drop the glass into a mould, where it is pressed into the proper shape on a press. A snap or puntie is used to hold an item while it is fire-polished and/or changed in shape.

3) After finishing, an item is placed in a Lehr (annealing oven) to be tempered.

4) Grinding and polishing is necessary on some items and this occurs in the finishing room.

A Gardner air compressor, originally installed in the building, is still in use.