By Susan Emerson Nutter

The Libbey Glass Division is celebrating its 200-year anniversary in 2018. Few American corporations can match this record of longevity and success let alone those in the glass industry. Though Libbey Glass is now located in Toledo, Ohio, the company’s beginnings took place in Massachusetts.

Deming Jarves is credited for establishing the New England Glass Company in East Cambridge, Mass., in 1818. A plant in East Cambridge built by the Boston Porcelain and Glass Manufacturing Company in 1814 became available in 1818, and Jarves and his associates moved in.

Jarves was the plant’s general manager for the first seven years, and it was his talent at hiring the men who established and expanded the factory operation that brought the New England Glass Company its early success. Jarves initial associates included successful Boston merchants such as Edmund H. Monroe (a director of the Porcelain and Glass Company), Colonel Amos Binney (U.S. Navy agent at the Charleston Navy Yard), and Daniel Hastings (a Boston merchant).

The New England Glass Company was known for creating high quality blown glass pieces in both clear and colored glass, and large amounts of pressed glass were produced. The company was also known for engraving, cutting, etching, and gilding their glass. Not only were the New England Glass Company’s products desirable, they won awards because of the talent of the people who worked there.

In the book Libbey Glass, Since 1818 author Carl U. Fauster names several significant glass workers who greatly impacted the company’s success. Fauster writes, “Despite English laws prohibiting the emigration of glass workers, Thomas H. Leighton came to America from England in 1826 to work at the East Cambridge factory. Leighton, a skilled glassblower, was superintendent for almost 20 years and much of the New England Glass Company’s early success was due to his able management.”

Fauster also points out that six of Leighton’s sons became glassblowers, with two acting as superintendent after their father retired. And two of Leighton’s glassblowing cousins left Scotland to join him at East Cambridge.

Fauster also names Francois Pierre, a fancy glassblower; Joseph Burdakin, a “cutter”; and Louis F. Vaupel, a skilled engraver who came to East Cambridge in 1851 and acted as head of design and engraving until his retirement in 1885. Vaupel’s talents were showcased at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial and pieces of his work currently reside in the Smithsonian Institution.

The company prospered through the mid 1800s. It was impacted, however, with the introduction of a cheaper lime-base glass (as opposed to lead glass) in 1864. The company’s refusal to compromise the quality of the glass they produced, growing competition, and increased demands from its workers resulted in the factory’s eventual move to the Midwest.

William L. Libbey became the last general manager of the New England Glass Company in 1872. Though the company survived the depression of 1873, it was operating at a loss and as a last ditch effort, they leased the company to Libbey in 1878. According to Fauster, “Libbey’s son, Edward, entered the business as a clerk and in 1880 became a partner. The firm name was changed to New England Glass Works, W. L. Libbey and Sons, Proprietors.”

And it was Edward who would make all the difference.

Edward Libbey was born in the Boston suburb of Chelsea, attended school in Maine, and later continued his studies at Boston University while working for his father as a clerk. When his father died in 1883, Edward took over the company at the age of 29. His first several years at the helm were turbulent. And while Libbey’s savvy promotional sales abilities and working deals kept the company solvent, Libbey could only do so much. When strikes in 1886 by Local 64 of the American Flint Glass Workers and high fuel costs became overwhelming, Libbey moved his operation to Toledo, Ohio, in 1888.

So why Toledo? Several factors came into play – abundant natural gas for one. Eager and agreeable Toledo city officials wanting to attract new industry that resulted in their providing Libbey a four-acre factory site as well as 50 lots for factory workers to use as home sites was another. Toledo’s close proximity to Lake Erie and the accessible railroad system were also major draws.

St. Patrick’s Day 1888 was ground-breaking day for Libbey’s glass factory, and the furnaces were up and running in August of the same year. The Toledo Daily Blade reported on the arrival of factory workers and carloads of machinery via train on Aug. 18, 1888, referencing the then 36 year old Libbey as being, “a genuine man of business, careful in making decisions, quick to act… and will prove a very valuable man for the city of Toledo.”

The talented craftsmen that worked for Libbey at East Cambridge made the move, and Libbey also invested in a young glassblower from Wheeling, W. Va., – Michael J. Owen. A charismatic speaker and leader, Libbey soon put Owens in charge of production of the new plant.

Even under the leadership of Libbey and Owens, the company struggled its first two years. Then Libbey was asked to take over a contract for Edison General Electric to produce light bulbs. Libbey rented out space in nearby Findlay, Ohio, (so as not to mix the making of light bulbs with the making of glassware) and under Owens’ leadership the company’s $3,000 deficit in 1889, turned into a $75,000 surplus in 1892.

The year 1892 was special for two other reasons. It was this year the company changed its name to Libbey Glass Company, and it was the year Libbey obtained exclusive rights to build and operate a complete glass factory at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago; a venture Libbey financed personally.

And what a fantastic move on his part! Besides being highly profitable, and a major prestige builder, this pricey decision resulted in Libbey becoming the largest cut glass manufacturer in the world. Thousands of visitors to the Exposition each day witnessed firsthand the handblowing and cutting of glass at the World’s Fair factory and viewed the finished work at The Crystal Art Room. And they bought souvenirs. By the end of the event more than two million people had paid admission to visit the Libbey Pavilion; and bought a souvenir of Libbey glass – be it a paperweight, slipper, hatchet, cup and saucer – all inscribed “Libbey” and “World’s Fair 1893.”

Libbey was no dummy in taking on such a major venture. With all eyes now on Libbey, and creating such an interest in cut glass, Libbey Glass led the way into the “Brilliant Period” which ran from 1890 to 1915. Libbey’s financial strength allowed the firm to fund, yet another venture; Mike Owen’s automatic bottle blowing machine. Fauster points out, “The 1903 invention was the most important improvement in glassmaking for lower cost and mass production, since the blowpipe some 2,000 years earlier.”

The inventive mindset of Owens ushered Libbey Glass Company into the 20th century in a big way and nothing has slowed them down since. It is this innovative, cutting edge, industry leading aspects that are currently being celebrated at the Toledo Museum of Art via the exhibition Celebrating Libbey Glass, 1818-2018 which opened May 4. More than 175 examples of glass from the Museum’s collection as well as objects and materials from the Libbey, Inc. archives make up this exhibit.

Celebrating Libbey Glass, 1818-2018 focuses on the tableware produced by the company since its inception to present day.

For information on Libbey, Inc. visit their website at www.libbey.com.

For information on Celebrating Libbey Glass, 1818-2018 visit www.toledomuseum.org.