Jeannette Glass Company, Jeannette Pennsylvania
The Jeannette Glass Company was incorporated in 1898. Originally called the Jeannette Bottle Works, this firm made hand-blown glass bottles and flint glass tableware that have since become collectors' items. With the introduction of automated bottle-blowing and glass making equipment the firm developed new products, including sidewalk glass and prism tile for store fronts, as well as "depression glassware" in the 1930s. Products made by the Jeannette Glass Company were sold throughout the United States and ninety foreign countries. Maurice L. Stonehill, a Cleveland industrialist, acquired the Jeannette Glass Company in 1960 and merged it with the McKee Glass Company in 1962. Forming the Jeannette Glass Company, he closed the Chambers Avenue plant and merged all production into the Bullit Avenue plant of the former McKee Glass Company. The firm employed 243 workers in 1916, 226 workers in 1919, 394 workers in 1935, 588 workers in 1947 and 300 workers in 1960. The Jeannette Glass Company became the Jeannette Corporation in 1971, and in 1989 American Architectural Metals Inc. of New York acquired the Jeannette Glass factory site.
Manufacturing Building No. 1: red brick, common bond and corrugated metal; three stories; triple gable roof with thirteen ventilators across each of two roofs, four ventilators on third roof, and tall brick chimney on second roof; steel trusses and steel structural system; multipaned casement windows; additions attached to this main structure includes a tall reinforced concrete storage building. Manufacturing Building No, 2: red brick, common bond; two stories; gable roof with metal monitor and tall brick chimney; "Jeannette Glass" in white tile; steel trusses and structural system; interior kiln and machinery can be seen through broken windows; tile, concrete block, and brick additions to both sides. Storage: red brick, common bond; one story. Mold Cleaning and Engine Room: red brick, common bond; two stories; flat roof; hinged windows; arched windows with brick voussoirs; exterior brick piers and corbelling at cornice. Carton Storage and Shipping: located on railroad; red brick, common bond; two stories; arched windows with single and double voussoirs. Old Carton Storage Building: attached to Building No. 1; burned in 1988 and left only exterior brick walls; red brick, common bond; one story; single, double and triple voussoirs over arched windows. The entire factory was demolished in 1992.
Adjacent to the east facade of the Jeannette Glass Company on Chambers Avenue is a single row of workers' housing constructed ca. 1920. Rowhouses: red brick, stretcher bond; two stories; flat roof has brick parapet with geometric brickwork and corbelling at cornice; concrete block foundation; three-over-one-light double-hung windows with soldier course for lintel and concrete sills; front porches share a common roof with brick columns as support posts; a single roof extends across the rear facade to cover back porches; modifications include enclosed rear porches and minor alterations in fenestration.
