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Built on what is now Port Elizabeth Cumberland Rd prior to 1799 by James Lee. This factory manufactured window glass by the cylinder method until 1870. Some container manufacture then was initiated and eventually window glass discontinued.
Lee sold the factory in 1813 to James Josiah, Samuel Parrish adn Joseph L Lewis Co. but retained a quarter interest and continued as manager. By 1817, Lee had sold his interest to Joseph Lewis and Jacob C Wyckoff and Joshua Brick had acquired a eighth interest. The firm was called J Josiah, Harrison, and Company.
In 1818 the glass works was sold to Samuel Wetherill who leased the factory to Joseph, Johann and Christopher Getsinger, John Welser and Francis Langstaff, a company of Germans. In 1831 Joseph and Johann purchased the glass works. A number of other German glass workers moved into Port Elizabeth to work at the factory. The US Census lists the birth places of some as Prussia, Hanover, Saxony and Bohemia.
The Getsingers deeded 36 tracts of land, including the glass works and the tract of more than 5 acres on which it stood, to George B Cooper and Charles Townsend in 1846. Large amounts of wood were needed to fuel the glass furnaces and company owners acquired wooded tracts throughout the area to provide this fuel. No estimate was found of how many acres wouldhave been needed to assure a continuous supply or the acreage held by the owners at any specific point in time.
Cooper retired from the firm and Townsend contined to operate with various partners until 1852, when the property was mortgaged to Dr. ELB Wales. Wales sold the mortgage to Samuel Townsend who foreclosed. The property was sold at sheriff's sale in 1862 and Townsend purchased it.
Townsend rented the works to Mitchell and Irwin for an unspecified time, after which the works closed until 1881 when the factory was purchased by the Whitney Company. The Whitney Company operated sporadically until the winter of 1883-1884, then the company closed. According to HW Vanaman, the factory was briefly reopened by a Mr. Berry for about six months for the manufacture of glass caskets. Vanaman says the discarded iron mounds were used by some local farmers as watering troughs for their stock.
An 1872 insurance map of Eagle Glass Works shows two furnaces; a complex of joined structures which included the roller house, flattening house, sear house and cutting room, a blacksmith shop, pot house, tempering house, mill house, engine house, two box shops, a sand and lime house, a counting room and storehouses.
In 1987 the five acre property has been subdivided and two dwellings have been built. Mounds at the rear of the two properties are said to represent ruins of the glass works, probably the furnaces. Glas, brick and stone are found in the soil. Eagle Glass Works is known to have manufactured ink wills and panel bottles. Whitney also manufactured early canning jars here.
In addition to the wooded tracts in the outlying districts the Eagle Glass Company owned numerous lots and structures within the town, most in the vicinity of the factory. Some of the lots were sold to private citizens but 7 houses are included in the 1872 insurance inventory. Two of these, duplexes which were located immediately south of the factory are extant. The large house said to be the Eagle Glass Company Hotel across the road from the duplexes, and the Ackley home on the north side of the hotel, also once were glass factory properties but were privately owned in 1872.
--Conservation Plan for the Manumuskin River Watershed, NJCF, 1988. p. 140-142.
Renee
Lee sold the factory in 1813 to James Josiah, Samuel Parrish adn Joseph L Lewis Co. but retained a quarter interest and continued as manager. By 1817, Lee had sold his interest to Joseph Lewis and Jacob C Wyckoff and Joshua Brick had acquired a eighth interest. The firm was called J Josiah, Harrison, and Company.
In 1818 the glass works was sold to Samuel Wetherill who leased the factory to Joseph, Johann and Christopher Getsinger, John Welser and Francis Langstaff, a company of Germans. In 1831 Joseph and Johann purchased the glass works. A number of other German glass workers moved into Port Elizabeth to work at the factory. The US Census lists the birth places of some as Prussia, Hanover, Saxony and Bohemia.
The Getsingers deeded 36 tracts of land, including the glass works and the tract of more than 5 acres on which it stood, to George B Cooper and Charles Townsend in 1846. Large amounts of wood were needed to fuel the glass furnaces and company owners acquired wooded tracts throughout the area to provide this fuel. No estimate was found of how many acres wouldhave been needed to assure a continuous supply or the acreage held by the owners at any specific point in time.
Cooper retired from the firm and Townsend contined to operate with various partners until 1852, when the property was mortgaged to Dr. ELB Wales. Wales sold the mortgage to Samuel Townsend who foreclosed. The property was sold at sheriff's sale in 1862 and Townsend purchased it.
Townsend rented the works to Mitchell and Irwin for an unspecified time, after which the works closed until 1881 when the factory was purchased by the Whitney Company. The Whitney Company operated sporadically until the winter of 1883-1884, then the company closed. According to HW Vanaman, the factory was briefly reopened by a Mr. Berry for about six months for the manufacture of glass caskets. Vanaman says the discarded iron mounds were used by some local farmers as watering troughs for their stock.
An 1872 insurance map of Eagle Glass Works shows two furnaces; a complex of joined structures which included the roller house, flattening house, sear house and cutting room, a blacksmith shop, pot house, tempering house, mill house, engine house, two box shops, a sand and lime house, a counting room and storehouses.
In 1987 the five acre property has been subdivided and two dwellings have been built. Mounds at the rear of the two properties are said to represent ruins of the glass works, probably the furnaces. Glas, brick and stone are found in the soil. Eagle Glass Works is known to have manufactured ink wills and panel bottles. Whitney also manufactured early canning jars here.
In addition to the wooded tracts in the outlying districts the Eagle Glass Company owned numerous lots and structures within the town, most in the vicinity of the factory. Some of the lots were sold to private citizens but 7 houses are included in the 1872 insurance inventory. Two of these, duplexes which were located immediately south of the factory are extant. The large house said to be the Eagle Glass Company Hotel across the road from the duplexes, and the Ackley home on the north side of the hotel, also once were glass factory properties but were privately owned in 1872.
--Conservation Plan for the Manumuskin River Watershed, NJCF, 1988. p. 140-142.
Renee
