Shaping Glass and Glassboro

Glassboro has been affected by other places since before its founding in 1779. The town was founded by a family of glassblowers called the Stangers, who came to America from Germany in 1768. The family of eleven left their home country to make a life in the New World, and that life began in Alloway, New Jersey, home of the Wistar Glassworks. There, the Stanger brothers helped create glass that would be transported to and sold in Philadelphia and New York, all while fostering their dreams of owning their own glassworks, as they had in their mother country. (1)

In the year of 1779, Solomon Stanger, after completing his service at the Wistar Glassworks, purchased land that would later become Glassboro as we know it today. The land was seemingly perfect for the manufacturing of glass. There was clay that could be used to make furnaces and pots, bog iron to develop tools, stone for building foundations, and wood to fuel the furnaces needed to turn the white sand located here into glass (2). The location was almost perfect, save for one thing. The site was landlocked with no river or stream to receive supplies or ship finished products. Despite the initial set back, tax records of Greenwich Township suggest that Solomon Stanger made the first “melt” in his new glassworks in the fall of 1781 (1). And he found a way to transport it as well. Wagons filled with glass products were hauled to Carpenter’s Landing, shipped to the Delaware River via Mantua Creek, and made their way to Philadelphia (3).

Despite the war going on at the time, the Stanger brothers seemed to prosper, but sooner than expected, their foundation of glass shattered. In 1780, the value of the Continental dollar, the currency the Stanger brothers had been accepting for their work, collapsed (3). They were faced with no way to pay off their debts and were forced to sell their factory in 1784 Colonel Thomas Heston, and Colonel Thomas Carpenter, Revolutionary War veterans (4). Carpenter crossed the Delaware River with Washington and fought in the battles at Princeton and Trenton and Heston acted as paymaster and quartermaster (5). The pair was well-suited to looking after the monetary aspect of the business while the Stangers stayed on as glassblowers at the company they had built.

Carpenter looked after the operation from Carpenter’s Landing, overseeing the shipment of their products to Philadelphia, as well as procuring items the workmen needed. These items were shipped in from Woodbury and Philadelphia, much larger communities suited to fulfilled Glassboro’s needs. Those who worked for the glass factory were paid for their labor with money that could only be spent in one place; the company store. It was there that they bought food, clothes, and other necessities. A well located in front of the store supplied water to the whole town, including the factory, the tavern, and the workers (3). This fact made them even more reliant on the company store, and workers often had no other option than to stay.

Besides their major influence over their workers, Carpenter and Heston had a major influence on the surrounding area as well. In 1786, Heston and Carpenter struggled to have a bridge built across Mantua Creek to help with the transportation of their wares. Carpenter and Heston were viewed as outsiders seeking to disrupt the existing navigation of the body of water. However, despite opposition, the bridge was built, and their company continued to prosper. It is also believed that in 1792 the partners had a hand in establishing a road that improved the connection of their glassworks to Carpenter’s Landing via Barnsboro (3).

After the death of Col. Thomas Heston in 1802 the Heston-Carpenter Glassworks was passed to Heston’s widow, Hannah Heston (nee Clayton) and Carpenter’s son, Edward. The company was renamed as the Olive Glassworks in 1810, but not long after Mrs. Heston sold her stake in the company and took to looking after the tavern and her children (5). In 1813, Edward Carpenter passed away and his half of the company was bought by Daniel Wolf. That same year, Harmony Glassworks was opened by Daniel Focer, Lewis Stanger, and Levi Campbell (6). Campbell had run the company store under Heston and Campbell, and he and his partners had all previously worked for Olive Glassworks (4,6). Stanger and Focer were both descendants of the original Stanger family, Daniel being the son of Sophia Stenger, the youngest child and only daughter of the founding family. Focer at one time also had a one-fourth interest in Olive Glassworks, his competition. The Olive Glassworks eventually fell completely into the hands of one Jeremiah Foster. In 1824, Olive Glassworks was absorbed by Harmony Glassworks, and forced to close its doors (5).

Stanger descendants could take joy in that their family was still involved in glass making through ownership of Harmony Glassworks. However, in 1834, Lewis Stanger left the business he had worked so hard to create. One year later, his third of the company was bought by Thomas Whitney, grandson of Colonel Thomas Heston (6). Whitney’s parents were Ebenezer Whitney, and Colonel Heston’s daughter, Bathsheba. Ebenezer was from a shipbuilding family in Maine and first came to Glassboro in 1805. He stayed at the tavern where he met Bathsheba Heston and the two married within the year and had five children (7). By 1838, their eldest son Thomas acquired sole ownership of Harmony Glass and renamed it for his family. After years of training Thomas’s brother, Samuel, was made partner, making the business a family affair once again (6).

Just as the Stangers founded the town, and Heston and Carpenter helped improve trade routes to and from Glassboro, the Whitney family also left its mark. In 1853, Thomas Whitney played a role in starting up the Gloucester County Bank (3). The brothers also helped establish turnpikes and railroads, such as the Camden and Woodbury Railroad Company and the West Jersey Railroad Company. These rails connected Glassboro to Millville, Salem, Bridgeton, and Cape Island (1). They understood that furthering Glassboro’s reach furthered their company’s reach as well.

Glassblowing and glassblowers alike flourished under the Whitneys. A journeyman under Whitney employ made $78.50 each month, and an apprentice made $34.66 on a monthly basis. At the time a bushel of corn was 75 cents, a bushel of wheat was two dollars, and at $6.25 a house could be rented for three months. With farmers earning roughly $1.00 a day, glassworkers were prospering because of the Whitneys (3).

By the 1870s 400 workers at Whitney Glass turned out 525 tons of glass monthly, which grew to about 600 workers producing 1200 tons of glass by 1891, and 1896 saw 1000 workers on the payroll with room for more (3). There were even times that the Whitney Glass had to have orders filled by other glassworks (8)!

Much of this success had to do with Samuel and Thomas passing the company down the family line. In 1878, the pair left Whitney Glassworks to Thomas’ son, John, and their nephew Thomas by their sister, Harriet Synnott (nee Whitney) (6). These great-grandchildren of Colonel Thomas Heston enlarged the furnaces, increased the production facilities and made Whitney Glass one of the best-equipped glass manufacturers in the country (2). These improvements not only helped their company but their town.

The growth of the glass industry and the growth Glassboro always seemed to go hand in hand. Around the time Olive Glassworks closed, all the buildings were made of logs and the glass factory owned the shops of the blacksmith, carpenter, wheelwright, shoemaker, and stone-brick maker (5). But in 1833 the First National Bank of Glassboro was established (1). After the Whitneys bought Harmony Glassworks, they sought to increase commercial activity and industry to help the town grow.

With their help, the roads, railways, and wages improved, and farms spread throughout Glassboro where the factories had cleared the forest for fuel. John Repp came from Ohio in 1865 and ran a farm for Thomas Whitney on what is now Delsea Drive. Poultry was another popular industry in Glassboro. One Thomas Allen ran what was considered one of the largest poultry farms in New Jersey and commanded high prices in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. On a similar note, John Williamson manufactured and provided Red Cross Health Grit to pigeon and poultry providers throughout the United States and other countries. Williamson was considered a pigeon expert and judged competitions internationally. More businesses came to Glassboro over the years, including a stove and tinderware business in 1877, and the Glassboro Loan and Building Association in 1883 (1).

Also in 1883, the Reading Railroad was extended from Williamstown to Glassboro. The Glassboro Railroad was formed due to the influence of officers from both Whitney and Warrick Glassworks (9). These business owners knew that extending the railroad would open up a wider market for their products.

In 1891, Dr. L. H. Thomas from a Chicago bluing and ink manufacturer sold his patents and machinery for making paper ink bottles to the Whitney Glassworks (1). That same year, Thomas Synnott retired and left his cousin, John, to run the business alone. Two years later, Whitney sold an interest in the company to a William Jeffers (6).

In 1895 a fire burnt the Whitney Glassworks to the ground, leaving only two furnaces behind (6). The buildings were rebuilt with fire-proof roofs, and the blaze finally convinced Glassboroites that they needed their own fire department (6, 3).

    Even this setback wasn’t enough to slow down the progress of the growing business. Within the next year, the factory had one thousand workers on the payroll, and many complained about having to work on the night shift to keep up with demand. By 1899, Whitney Glassworks had hired so many new workers that they were faced with a housing crisis (3). Laborers that worked at the glass factory lived in factory-provided housing on Poplar and Lake Streets, but with the increasing demand of glass, and increasing population of laborers, Whitney and Jeffers had run out of places to house them (1).

    In a way, this housing shortage marked the beginning of the end for Whitney Glassworks, as did the invention of the glassblowing machine, by Michael Owen in 1903. Several years after their invention, Whitney glass bought one of these wondrous machines and procured four more by 1912. One year later, John Whitney passed away, leaving the company in the hands of William Jeffers (6). However, Whitney’s former partner was not up to the task of keeping their company alive.

    In 1918, Michael Owen, the inventor of the glassblowing machine, started his own glass manufacturing company and acquired Whitney Glass. Within four years the former Whitney factory was closed and torn down (6). Several years later, the Owens Manufacturing Company also stopped production and closed its doors. In that same year of 1929, Owens Manufacturing merged with Illinois Glassworks (2). Owens-Illinois patiently waited for an opportunity to reopen its factories in Glassboro.

    By 1937 that opportunity came when the company announced that it would be reopening its doors to manufacture lids and closures for glass products. Most of the workers were hired in Glassboro and had previously worked for Whitney and Owen (2). Two canning companies were located in Glassboro at the time but only provided work during the summer months (1). The reopening of the Owens-Illinois factory gave the community a much-needed economic boost. At this point, the glass industry had become an integral part of Glassboro once again.

    Although the glass industry is no longer present in Glassboro, its effects can still be seen and felt. We walk down streets named for the men that helped our town grow. Some of us live in a building bearing the name of one of the most influential families in Glassboro’s history. These people are buried in cemeteries next to churches that we still use. We have museums and monuments dedicated to the industry that gave our town its name. Occasionally, shards of old bottles can be found around some of the older buildings, reminding us that this is a town founded on glass.

1: Stanger, Margaret Jones, Historical development of Glassboro, Gloucester County, New Jersey, from 1779 to 1920

2: Sheppard, John C., Owens-Illinois and Glassboro

3: Bole, Robert D., Walton, Edward H., The Glassboro Story 1779-1964

4: Walton Jr., Edward H. “Now Renovated Home Once Served Many Local Businesses.” The Enterprise. August 20, 1980

5: Plasket, Maryilyn Campbell, Historical development of the Whitney Glassworks in Glassboro, New Jersey

6: Walton Jr., Edward H. “Whitney Glassworks- Only the Memories Remain.” The Enterprise. April 16, 1980

7: Glassboro: What’s In a Name?

8: Glick, Juneanne Wescoat, “'Once upon a time...' in a place called Fisler town, then Fislerville Volume 1 They Blew Glass"

9: Walton Jr., Edward H. “Railroad Station Was Center of Commerce, Social Life.” The Enterprise. May 7, 1980