Fostoria Glass Company

Operations

Fostoria Glass Company was founded on December 15, 1887 in Fostoria, Ohio due to its natural gas reserves. The new fields of gas provided a low cost for electricity that attracted several industries. That field of natural gas was short lived, however, so in 1891, the company relocated to Moundsville because of the abundance of natural gas and coal there (1)(2). The natural resources helped fuel the massive kilns to produce pressed ware, however, by the early 1920s, the company’s focus had shifted to fine quality blown stemware.

In 1924 (1), the company was one of the first in the nation to start a program of national advertising, and the first to produce complete dinner services in crystal. Fostoria expanded its operations from their regular line of blown, etched and pressed patterns to providing glass with government seals and other custom works. Every president from Eisenhower to Reagan ordered glassware from the company, and its powerful presence made it the largest maker of handmade glassware in the nation. At its peak in the 1950s, it employed nearly 1000 producing over eight million pieces of glass annually.

In 1983, Lancaster Colony purchased the Fostoria Glass Company (1). Three years later, due to a lack of new investment and foreign competition, Lancaster Colony was forced to close the glass making facility, ending nearly one-hundred years of glass production.

Future Uses

In 2006, the Fostoria Glass Company was demolished (4). The demolition work, which included asbestos abatement at a cost of $100,000, took between eight and ten months to complete. The former factory site could be home to a grocery store, a drive-through bank and a sports bar. Nearby, the Fostoria Glass Museum continues on the legacy of the plant. Located in a modest three-story home adjacent to the Marshall County Courthouse in downtown Moundsville, it features numerous pieces often sought-after by collectors and exhibits that trace the factory’s rise and fall (3).