September 19, 2001
 
Bridgeville Area Historical Society  Meeting
 
The Bridgeville Area Historical Society held its first program meeting
Tuesday evening, September 18, at Pittsburgh Vision Services' Bridgeville
office. Doug Lucas and Miles Bosch, of the Historical Glass Club of
Pittsburgh, made an interesting presentation on the history of glass manufacturing in
Western Pennsylvania. Their presentation was illustrated by many examples of
old pieces, from their collections.
 
Of particular interest to most of those present was the role of the J. B.
Higbee Glass Company's plant in Bridgeville from 1907 to 1918. Among the
audience were two Higbee descendants -- Clarinda Host and Dick Schneider,
and their spouses.
 
The earliest evidence of glass making in this area was Albert Gallatin's
works, in 1797, in New Geneva (near Brownsville) and that of James O'Hara
and Isaac Craig in Pittsburgh at about the same time. Pittsburgh had become
the last civilized stop for settlers moving West and an obvious place to manufacture such a
fragile commodity. Window glass and bottles were highly prized items. The
speakers displayed an old whiskey bottle and several flasks.
 
The most famous glass works was established by Benjamin \line Bakewell
(Bakewell, Page & Bakewell) close to the location where the new PNC
Operations Center was constructed. Bakewell initiated the use of molds in
glass manufacture . Among the Bakewell items that were displayed were furniture knobs and a
cup plate. The latter is a remnant of a defunct custom -- transferring
coffee from a cup to a bowl to be drunk. The empty cup was then placed on a
flat "cup plate", which resembles a coaster.
 
Bakewell glass was simple and utilitarian -- Early American or colonial
style. Other Bakewell pieces shown included a bar bottle, a candle holder,
and a thumbprint pattern "spill holder". Before matches were
readily available, candles were lit by rolled up wads of paper. These were
salvaged for re-use and stored in spill holders.
 
The Robinson Glass Works introduced complicated patterns (lacy) to
tableware, apparently to camouflage flaws in the glass. The audience was
shown a Robinson salt dip -- a container for loose salt that was passed
around the table so salt could be spooned onto plates. This was a necessity in the days before
non-caking salt permitted the use of salt shakers.
 
The advent of kerosene lamps provided a challenge for glass makers to design
workable lamps. In 1862 Atterbury patented the design which became most
widely used. The speakers showed a shell pattern lamp.
 
An interesting piece manufactured by George Duncan and Sons, whose plant was
on the South Side, Tenth and Carson Streets, was a "spooner" -- a container
for spoons. This piece was decorated with relief profiles of a local beauty, allegedly a lady named Elizabeth Miller.
 
Also shown was an amber celery holder with a wildflower pattern, produced by
Adams Glass Company in the 1880's. It was shaped, and used, much like a
vase. the celery stalks were considered attractive and were displayed in the
holder with their leaves displayed, prior to being eaten.
 
Another oddity shown was a fly trap. Although it certainly was more
attractive than fly paper or a fly swatter, it seems a wee bit crude for
gracing a dining table. The piece is bell shaped with a small opening in the
top (where flies can enter) and an annular bottom (to hold sugar water and attract the flies). It might have been a little bit more acceptable if it hadn't been transparent, but then
diners couldn't have observed the flies swarming into the sugar water. One
wonders how appetizing a meal was when one was watching flies self destruct
trying to escape.
 
In the latter part of the nineteenth century a number of decorative
alternatives were introduced by companies trying to gain an advantage over
their competitors. Tiffany was the first to market iridescent glass, also
known as carnival glass. Opalized glass, with milk glass edges, was another innovation. Some
companies stained or painted glass before firing it.
 
The Bryce, Higbee Glass Company was a predecessor to J. B. Higbee. The
speakers showed an excellent memorial bread plate, honoring President U. S.
Grant. It is square, blue, and nicely detailed . The plate is illustrated in
"Bryce, Higbee and J. B. Higbee Glass", an excellent refer ence book at the Bridgeville Public Library. Two J. B. Higbee pieces that were displayed also appear in this reference book. One is a blue match safe, complete with a serrated face for striking matches. It was
designed to be mounted on a wall. the other was a lovely Fortuna pattern
clear glass pitcher.
 
The speakers reported on trends in glass collecting, including the curious
phenomenon of "depression glass". In the period between the two World Wars a
large quantity of inexpensive colored (frequently pink or light green) tableware was produced. It was often distributed as a premium at movie theaters or in grocery stores. In the 1960's and 1970's it suddenly became a popular collector's item, apparently because collectors wanted
something they remembered their Grandmother had. Depression glass pieces became more expensive than older pieces of much higher quality.
 
The "show and tell" portion of the program produced several interesting
pieces brought by members of the audience. One was a fine Higbee "Hawaiian
Lei" pattern berry bowl, with the HIG bee trademark clearly visible. A
beautiful Duncan Miller "first love" pattern was shown. A Bridgeville
bottling Works pop bottle initiated a discussion by the speakers of t
he significance of glass containers and their predictable increasing value
as collectibles in the future.
 
Messers Lucas and Bosch reported that the Historical Glass Club of
Pittsburgh has about 85 members and meets once a month at the PAA in Oakland. They
invited members of the audience to attend one of their meetings. Considering
the large number of specialized