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Fostoria Glass
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From Fostoria Focus Aug.20, 2000 by L.J. Selwor More about Fostoria Glass In scanning through some old Fostoria City Directories, I found two full-page ads by D.P. Lloyd Company, manufacturers of Fostoria White Lime. The Company was located on North Countyline Street behind where the Pharm and Park Shores Apartments are presently located. In my early days, it was known as Pelton's Quarry and was one of my favorite fishing and swimming holes. The other quarry was The Ohio and Western Lime Company located on North Main Street across the street from Fostoria Industries. This one has some sad memories for me, as it was this quarry where a dear friend of mine drowned. One may wonder what part of Fostoria history did these two companies play? From 1887 through 1920 Fostoria was the heart of the glass industy in the United States. These two companies provided all of the lime needed by the 13 glass factories located her in Fostoria. An item from the Fostoria Review dated May 6, 1887 states: "Fostoria has two quarries which produce a first-class white limestone for building as well as for burning. "Previously, the glass companies were forced to pay hundreds of dollars for freight charges to ship the lime in by train. Now, they have two of the finest quaries within the city limits. The kilns for burning the limestone was across the street where Fostoira Industries is now located. "The major ingredients of every batch of glass had approximately 64 percent of sand, 5 percent of lime and 27 percent of soda. the lime was used to reduce the high melting point of the sand and to help reduce the bubbles that were always present in each batch of glass." Another interesting fact found while researchng the quarries was that Charles Foster was president of the Fostoria Stone and Lime Company, Successors to Bradner & Company, which before that was The D.P. Lloyd Company. Charles Foster was a major factor in the success of the glass companies in Fostoria. In one way or another, Foster was involved with the Limestone Quarries, the National Gas Company, the Railroads, as well as several of the Glass Companies. | ||||||||||||||||
