Seneca Glass Company
Seneca Glass Company logo from advertisement in 1905 Glass and Pottery World magazine. Plant was located in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
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| Corporation | |
| Industry | Glass manufacturing |
| Fate | Sold |
| Predecessor | Fostoria Glass Company |
| Successor | Seneca Crystal Incorporated (bankrupt in 1983) |
| Founded | 1891 (Production officially started January 1, 1892.) |
| Founder | Otto Jaeger, Leopold Sigwart, George Truog, August Boehler, Joseph Kammerer, Edward Kammerer |
| Defunct | 1982 |
| Headquarters | Fostoria, Ohio and Morgantown, West Virginia |
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Key people
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Leopold Sigwart, August Boehler, Joseph Kammerer |
| Products | lead-blown tumblers and stemware |
| Revenue | $2 million (1969) |
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Number of employees
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250 (1897) |
Seneca Glass Company used to be the largest manufacturer of tumblers (drinking glasses) in the United States. The company was also known for its high-quality lead stemware, which was hand-made for nearly a century. Customers included Eleanor Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, the president of Liberia, the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Tiffany’s, and Neiman-Marcus.
The firm’s first glass plant was located in Fostoria, Ohio. The company took possession of the plant on January 1, 1892, after it was vacated by the Fostoria Glass Company. Otto Jaeger was the first president of Seneca Glass Company, and he had been part of the Fostoria Glass Company management team. Like Jaeger, many of the new company’s original leaders were German craftsmen.
In 1896, the firm moved to Morgantown, West Virginia, and continued to produce high-quality decorated glassware. A second plant was built in 1911 to produce tumblers and less-elaborate ware. During the 1950s, Seneca introduced its Driftwood Casual table setting pattern in an attempt to capture a less formal segment of the glassware market. This pattern was produced for nearly 30 years, and became especially important to the company as formal glassware became less popular.
In 1982, the company was sold to a group of investors that renamed the firm Seneca Crystal Incorporated. The firm filed for bankruptcy in 1983. Today, the Seneca Glass Company building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and contains small retail shops and offices.
Wheeling, Virginia was an early glass producing center in what was, during the 1820s, the American "West". The city is located in Ohio County near the northernmost tip of what was the commonwealth of Virginia, which became part of West Virginia during the American Civil War. Wheeling had an advantage of the Ohio River as a transportation resource, and coal was available in the area as a fuel. Wheeling was also connected to the eastern United States by the National Road, and by the end of the 1840s major cities in Ohio were also connected. By the 1850s, railroads added to the area’s transportation superiority. As the leading producers of glass in the region, Wheeling and Ohio’s Belmont County (located across the river from Wheeling), eventually became sources of glassmaking talent for Ohio and Indiana. Among the talent developed in Wheeling was Otto Jaeger—future president of Seneca Glass Company. Jaeger was born in Germany in 1853, and came to America in 1866. He was taught the skill of engraving glass while still a teenager. In 1877, he began practicing his trade at the J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company glass works in Wheeling.
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