IMPORTANT
CHARACTERS OF GLASS ERA
Thursday, August 31, 1978
PIX #1 - Glass
Specialty Co., at present site of Nye Inc.
PIX #2 - Loudon
Glass plant, used by Fostoria. Incadescent Lamp Co., at the location
of the Copeland Mfg. Co.
PIX #3 - Fostoria
Incadescent Lamp Co. factory on South Poplar, south of the railroad
tracks
PIX #4 - Ray Coburn
- Old Time glassworker and one-time mayor.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
This is the third and last installment of the story about the Gas and
Glass Days in Fostoria.
Some years ago
when I was doing considerable traveling fro the Fostoria Pressed Steel
Corp. and whenever fellow travelers or business people learned I was
from Fostoria, they invariably would say..."Oh, that's where Fostoria
glasware is made". They still associated the two names, and thought
the glassware was still made here. Not a bad association.
The many varieties
of glassware manufactured in Fostoria Glass Factories during the past
are treasured as collectos items by many people. Fostorians in particular.
Many of the types
of glassware are illustrated in Mel Murray's book "History of Fostoria,
Ohio Glass 1887-1920". Along with the many fine illustrations of glass
items, there is also a much more extensive description of the events
and personalities related to each one of the glass factories of that
period.
This article cannot
supplant the much more detailed work of Murray.
Ray Coburn, a
glass worker for many years, can tell a lot of interesting tales about
some of his associates back in the old days. Here's several:
Lee Rigbee, a
Fostoria and one of Ray's friends, did a lot of freight- hopping, and
finally lost a leg because of the practice. He carved a wooden leg for
himself (not just a pegleg), and it worked fine.
Joe Eddy was another
of Coburn's friends, who in addition to being a glass worker was also
a sort of an inventor and tinkerer. He invented a washing machine, long
before they were on the market, which provied agitation to clean the
clothes and which also incorporated a gas heater underneath to heat
the water. He never sold his patent or producted another machine.
He also tells
one related to the young age of some of the workers. One time, Coburn
was an official for the glass workers union and visited a local in the
east. He was taken to the union hall and there found that most of the
officers were boys still in short pants.
The American Flint
Glass Workers Union...the voice of the glass workers is celebrating
its 100th Anniversary this year. Since Fostoria was deeply involved
in the industry back there 100 years ago...it is appropriate to pay
tribute to an industry and to the men who have made such a great contribution
on the American industrial scene.
The AFGWU, in
the July issue of American Flint, reviewed some of the history of its
union and members, which now numbers 37,000.
Of particular
interest, up-front in the magazine, was a photo of a monument erected
at Corning, N.Y., in 1892, honoring 18 union members who resided in
that area. On July 3, 1891, they were killed in a train accident at
Ravenna, Ohio, when they were enroute from Findlay, Ohio, where they
were all employed to visit friends and relatives in the Corning area.
Also of interest
was a photo and item about Iva B. Harber, of Tiffin, local No. 574.
to her went the honor in 1942 to be the first womam to become a member
of the executive boar, representing the miscellaneous group at the U.S.
Glass Co. plant, Tiffin.
PERSONALTIES
There are some
names of men who were associated with the glass industry in one way
or another that should be accorded space in this story. Here they are:
FRANK O'NEIL -
A Fostorian who had a small machine shop here and was tinkering with
ideas for the manufacture of machines for making certain glass items
automatically and for bottle blowing.
O'Neil saw some
dishonest dealings in Fostoria, according to Carmen (Ash) Lyons, and
decided to move his business to Toledo.
According to Lyons'
historical records, after his move to Toledo in 1910, he perfected some
of his ideas and manufactured machines that were used world wide. In
later years he sold his company to Owens-Illinois Glass Co., but retained
his Montreal, Canada plant which was reputed to be the largest in the
world for producing glass-making machinery.
Mrs. Lyons refers
to O'Neill as "Uncle Frank", since her husband, Richard, was a nephew
of Frank O'Neill. Mrs. O'Neill was the daughter of Alexander Brown,
a pioneer family in Fostoria, he being the mayor of this city in 1886.
MICHAEL J. OWENS
- like Frank O'Neill, he was an inventor as well as a glass- worker.
Although he worked
at a glass plant in Findlay, he was well known to Hugh Coburn, father
of Fostorian Ray Coburn.
He later moved
to Toledo to work for the Libbey Co. and eventually produced a bottle-making
machine, apparently about the same time O'Neill did. Who produced the
first machine is unknown to the author.
Of course, the
name OWENS later became identified very importantly with the Owens-Illinois
interests in Toledo.
HENRY STURGESS
- I remember Mr. Sturgess, even though I was only a small child when
we lived beside the family on Taft Blvd.
The family come
to town when General Electric started making Iris glassware, to compete
with Tiffany. Mr. Sturgess had worked for a number of glass factories
in this country as well as in England where he was born. He knew many
well-guarded secrets of glass-making and made a great contribution to
the production of Iris glassware in the GE plant.
His daughter,
Mrs. Edith Babb, still resides in Fostoria.
HARRY EDMONDS
- He was already a knowledgable glassworker when he came to Fostoria
to help establish the Fostoria Novelty Glass Co. When it failed, he
became associated with the Anchor-Hocking glass factory in Lancaster,
Ohio.
At another period
in his glass career, Edmonds was sent to China by General Eletric to
teach the Chinese the art of glassmaking and to supervise a plant. That
tour of duty lasted for about a year. When he returned to Fostoria to
visit relatives and friends he brought me a Chinese silk hankerchief.
Silk was made by silk worms then. I was about 10 or 12 at that time.
WALTER HICKS -
Came to Fostoria in 1910 to work for General Eletric. He previously
worked in the Tiffany plant in New York. Later he worked for GE in Cleveland
after the plants closed here. Still later, he joined Miller Glass Co.
in Chicago as a salesman, a career he followed the rest of his working
years. The town has changed so much since the early days that I can
get lot here now. He says. Hicks is back in Fostoria now, at Good Shepherd
Home, after more than 50 years absence.
RAY COBURN - A
well-known citizen of Fostoria for many years, and respected by all
those who know him, started in the glass industry at hine years of age.
That first job of his at Macbeth Evans Co., Toledo, where his family
lived then. The next year, when he was 10, his family moved to Fostoria,
and he went to work at General Eletric's Upper Plant. Ray's father and
brothers were also glassworkers.
Like all young
glassworkers he had to serve his apprenticeship until age 18 before
being admitted to the union as a pate-mould blower. When he had attained
that distinction, he went to a new GE plant at Niles, Ohio, and remained
there five years. After that he worked in many other glass producing
cities, winding up in Toronto, Canada, at which time he decided it was
time to leave the industry.
During his years
as a glassworker he served for six years on the executive board of The
American Flint Glass Workers Union, of which he is still a member.
Ray is thoroughly
conversant in all of the glassmaking processes and an interesting talker.
Needless to say he has some beautiful and interesting glass pecimens...many
made in Fostoria.
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