Duncan & Miller Glass Company
Duncan Glass mark
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| Partnership (1865-1900) Corporation (1900-1955) |
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| Industry | Glass manufacturing |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Predecessor | Ripley & Company |
| Successor | United States Glass Company |
| Founded | 1865 |
| Founder | George Duncan |
| Defunct | June 13, 1955 |
| Headquarters | Washington, Pennsylvania |
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Number of employees
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200 (1908) |
Duncan & Miller Glass Company was a well-known glass manufacturing company in Washington, Pennsylvania. Items that were produced by the company are known as "Duncan glass" or "Duncan Miller glass." The company was founded in 1865 by George Duncan with his two sons and son-in-law in the South Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. By 1890, the company joined other glass companies to form the United States Glass Company, a powerful glass trust. In 1892, the factory was destroyed in a fire, and the company was relieved of its trust relationship with the US Glass Company. After the fire, the second generation of the Duncan family moved operations to Washington, Pennsylvania. In 1900, John Ernest Miller, the company's long-time designer, became a full shareholder along with members of the Duncan family. By 1955, economic pressures from machine-produced glass forced the company to sell off its assets to the US Glass Company, who continued to produce Duncan-style glass until 1980.
In 1865, George Duncan purchased the Ripley & Company glass factory at 10th and Carson Streets in the South Side neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from D.C. Ripley, a former business partner of Duncan. The factory was located adjacent to the Monongahela River, which provided easy access to transportation. A new company, George Duncan & Sons, was formed by Duncan, his sons Harry B. Duncan and James E. Duncan, and Augustus H. Heisey, who was married to George's daughter Susan. In 1874, John Ernest Miller, a 20-year veteran of the glass manufacturing industry, joined the company as a designer. He was previously the foreman of the mould shop at King, Son and Company. The addition of Miller proved to be fortuitous, because Miller's designs over the next 52 years became internationally famous. In 1877, George Duncan died and James E. Duncan took control of the company.
In 1890, the United States Glass Company formed a glass trust that included the George Duncan & Sons operation. In 1892, their factory was destroyed by fire, relieving the company of their trust relationship. After the fire, son-in-law Augustus Heisey left the company to begin his own glass manufacturing operation in Newark, Ohio. James E. Duncan built a new factory on Jefferson Avenue in Washington, Pennsylvania, where access to railroads was convenient, and the natural gas which was needed to power the furnaces was inexpensive. Construction of the plant, which featured a 16 Pot Deep Eye furnace, was finished on January 3, 1893. The first pattern produced in the new facility was the well-known Mitchell pattern. The new operation was named George Duncan's Sons & Co.
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