Gillinder Glass History
In 1861 William Gillinder established a glass factory on Maria Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets in Philadelphia and called the new business the Philadelphia Flint Glass Works.
The Philadelphia Flint Glass Works declared that the new firm manufactured "Plain, Moulded and Cut Flint Glass Ware, Fancy Colored Glass, and Silvered Glass Table Ware, Door Knobs, Curtain Pins and Reflectors". In addition, Apothecaries, Chemical and Philosophical" glassware. But, most of Gillinder's production was coal lamps and chimneys of every description were made.
Gillinder was forced to move almost immediately by the neighborhood because of dirt and soot from the factory. The new site was on Howard and Oxford Streets and named the Franklin Flint Glass Works. Gillinder still faced financial problems, which forced him to borrow more money from Edwin Bennett. In 1863, Bennett had difficulties of his own, due to the proximity of the Civil War to Baltimore. Bennett moved his family to Philadelphia and became William Gillinder's partner.
The earliest known Franklin Flint Glass Works catalog lists chimneys, peg lamps, opal smoke bells, and potichomanie vases besides a small select grouping of pressed glass patterns. Goblets, champagnes, wines, cordials and egg cups were available in the "New York" pattern. Sugars and spoon holders were offered in the "Cincinnati" pattern. Pitchers and creams were specifically identified in the "Cincinnati Patent", which refers to the important patent issued to William T. Gillinder in 1865.
The patent was for a combination blowpipe and snap case that permitted a pressed pitcher with attached handle to be inflated. "Cincinnati" pitchers and creams produced by this process were engraved with "Patent 1865" below the handles. Gillinder & Bennett factory was the largest glass factory within the city limits.
Between 1861 and 1871, William T. Gillinder created a group of paperweights. The majority of the known paperweights were produced in millefiori designs. Gillinder was probably familiar with paperweight making, having come from the Birmingham region of England where millefiori paperweights have been attributed to George Bacchus and Sons and the Islington Glass Works.
In 1867, after the Civil War was over, Bennett sold his interest in the Franklin Flint Glass Works to William T. Gillinder's two sons, James and Frederick, and returned to Baltimore. The new partnership was called Gillinder & Sons. Early in 1871, William Gillinder received a patent for a new pattern he called "Star", which collectors today call "Stippled Star". The pattern contained five-pointed stars surrounded by a fine stippled background. He also experimented with frosting acids, which were first used at Gillinder in the early 1870s and became a trademark of the firm.
On February 22, 1871, William T. Gillinder died at the age of forty-nine. All of his nine children became stockholders of the company. The two eldest sons, James and Frederick Gillinder, were in control of the day-to-day operation of the factory.
Pressed glass patterns were added to the product line. Although new to Gillinder, the designs were not unknown to the trade and were actually the same ones offered by many of the company's competitors. The patterns included "Huber", "O'Hara" (Loop), "Mitchell", "Diamond" and "Small Argus". Brand-new designs offered by Gillinder were "Mellor", patented by company designer and cutter William T. Mellor in 1874, and "Centennial", produced in 1876.
The American Centennial year of 1876 was a turning point for the Gillinder operation. Philadelphia was chosen as the site for the country's Centennial Exhibition to showcase the United States' recovery from the devastating Civil War. The brothers paid the $3,000 concession fee and constructed a ninety-six by one hundred and nine foot building with a thirty-six by thirty-six foot annex, which cost $15,000. The exhibition factory was well documented and illustrated in Frank Leslie's Historical Register of the Centennial. The glasshouse was an instant success and became one of the most popular attractions of the fair. The main section of the factory was devoted to the large stack, which held six glass melting pots.
Demonstrations of free blowing, blowing in molds and pressing were given each day. An area of the building was set aside for demonstrating the cold working processes of acid etching, copper wheel engraving and stone cutting. Another portion of the exhibit was limited to sales. All manner of glass souvenirs from the factory were offered for purchase. Pressed slippers, hand bouquet vases, lions, and busts of individuals were marked "Centennial" and "Gillinder and Sons". The majority of these items were acid etched. Tableware, such as bread plates, had George Washington or important Philadelphia historical landmarks included in the design. Rat oval pressed and etched paperweights with intaglio designs of Lincoln and other historical monuments were good sellers, as were miniature children's tableware sets. So profitable were these Centennial pieces that the firm continued to produce many of them long after the Centennial was over.
Gillinder pressed glass has been admired by collectors due to the remarkable detail in the carving and controlled acid etching of the molded designs. As early as 1873, the factory had utilized etching acids. "Lion" was the first of these characteristic patterns. Introduced after the Centennial, the "Lion" pattern was available with lions posed in differing positions as finials on covers. Called Lion No. 1, Lion No. 2, or New Lion, the combinations were the lion sitting, the lion attached to a log and the lion head alone. All of the lions were etched with acid but the bases differed. Some were designed with plain cable feet while others had a collared etched border of sitting lions.
"Pioneer", today called "Westward Ho", was offered for sale around 1878. This famous pattern incorporated a deer, a buffalo, a log cabin with setting sun and a crouching Indian as the finial on covers. The border motif and finials were acid etched. There was considerable difficulty pressing the "Pioneer" pattern due to problems with completely filling the Indian knob. "Pioneer" has been reproduced.
In approximately 1881, the factory introduced "St. Bernard". Large, standing acid etched dogs became the finials of these covered pieces. St. Bernard is often found in combination with stencil-etched designs of "Hunter, Dog and Deer". This etched design was known as No. 14" and was just one of many etched stencil motifs available.
The "No. 403", known today as "Classic", is considered one of the most sophisticated patterns ever produced. The pattern combined classical figures, "Hob Diamond & Star", political notables and acid etching. Early examples had freestanding log feet that caused so much difficulty; the molds were altered so that later pieces had a support collar around the feet.
In the mid-1880s. "Leaf", often referred to as "Maple Leaf", was manufactured. The variety of shapes in the pattern include an individual leaf nappy, leaves forming the bowl of a goblet with tree branch stem, and serving pieces with leaf borders. The "Leaf" pieces had the same problem feet that were utilized and then changed on the "No. 403" pattern.
"Imitation Rich Cut Ware" patterns were also made. These designs were similar to "Hob Diamond & Star" or "Daisy and Button" and "Star and Diamond". Many of these patterns were available in colors such as Vaseline, blue, and amber. Gillinder made Amberina colored glassware also. Pieces were tinted deep red shading to amber, illustrating the No. 409 shape (a bowl) in the company's version of a "Daisy and Button" design.
The company moved its entire pressing operation to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1889. The factory issued its new pattern, "Westmoreland". In 1891, the Greensburg plant joined the United States Glass Company and became "Factory G". Between 1893 and 1894, the Gillinder firm sold out its interest in the combine and the company's molds were later dispersed to other member factories. The most significant part of Gillinder leaving the United States Glass Company was that the firm agreed to not produce pressed tableware for twenty years.
In 1883, at the same time that Gillinder & Sons was manufacturing its well-known pressed glass, the company built and opened a window glass plant in Tacony, a suburb of Philadelphia. Production began in September of 1883 at the Franklin Window Glass Works, which advertised Franklin window, car and picture glass. The window factory was sold in 1887.
In 1897, the factory had two furnaces and one tank with a total of 23 pots capacity and employed a large decoration department. Blown goods, lamps, chimneys, opal glass, decorated ware; gas globes and shades were manufactured. Opal decorated Easter eggs were introduced in 1897. The blown eggs were plain or embossed with chicks, horseshoes, crosses and Easter greetings. Usually gilt and decorated with flowers, the eggs were available in sizes ranging from ostrich to goose to hen.
James Gillinder, son of the founder and president of the company, died in 1903. Three years later, Frederick, the last partner in the original Gillinder & Sons, passed away. In 1912, William T. Gillinder left Philadelphia for Port Jervis, New York, in search of a new enterprise. On October 10, 1912, William officially resigned from Gillinder & Sons and purchased The Orange County Hint Glass Works. Later that same year, his two brothers, Edwin Bennett and James, joined him and they founded Gillinder Brothers, Inc.
The brothers manufactured products they were familiar with including all types of blown and pressed lighting devices. Gillinder Brothers suffered a fire on Labor Day in 1919. While the factory was being rebuilt, the brothers utilized the nearby idle Dorflinger Glass Works, in White Mills, Pennsylvania, to manufacture glass and fill their orders. In 1924, the company incorporated and production expanded to include glass electric meter covers. Etched and cut "Colonial" style shades and hurricanes were available in a wide variety of designs".
After World War II, the firm advertised "Crystal, opal, colored lighting glassware, specialties, private mold work, both blown and pressed and also Navy, Maritime and Army lighting glassware". Manufacture of government lighting fixtures became an important part of the company's business. Cased color vases and shades and pressed Buddhas were produced in the 1970s.
Today, Gillinder Brothers is operated by the fifth generation. The factory is one of only two glass plants in the United States utilizing pots to melt the glass. The business employs fifty workers and continues to produce industrial, commercial and military lighting in an impressive range of colors. Gillinder Brothers, Inc. of Port Jervis, New York, continues to maintain the tradition of glassmaking established by William T. Gillinder of Philadelphia well over one hundred years ago. |
