page_title: Fostoria Glass Company
section_title: Moundsville operations
hierarchical_section_title: Fostoria Glass Company / Moundsville operations
caption_attribution_description: Pages from the 1904 Fostoria Glass Company Catalog File:Fostoria Glass Company 1904 Catalog.JPG showing some images of their oil and electric lamps as well as some hand-decorated vases.
context_page_description: The Fostoria Glass Company was a manufacturer of pressed, blown and hand-molded glassware and tableware. It began operations in Fostoria, Ohio, on December 15, 1887, on land donated by the townspeople. The new company was formed by men from West Virginia who were experienced in the glassmaking business. They started their company in northwest Ohio to take advantage of newly discovered natural gas that was an ideal fuel for glassmaking. Numerous other businesses were also started in the area, and collectively they depleted the natural gas supply. Fuel shortages caused the company to move to Moundsville, West Virginia in 1891.
  After the move to Moundsville, the company achieved a national reputation. Fostoria was considered one of the top producers of elegant glass. It had over 1,000 patterns, including one that was produced for over 75 years. Sample rooms were located in New York, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and other large cities. The company advertised heavily, and one of its successes was sales through bridal registries. Fostoria products were made for several U.S. presidents. The company employed 1,000 people at its 1950 peak.
context_section_description: In 1899, the company became associated with the National Glass Company, which was a corporate trust. Co-founder Lucien Martin left the firm in 1901 to work in Pittsburgh for National Glass. Another co-founder, William Brady, also moved to the Pittsburgh firm a short time later. Despite the association, Fostoria Glass Company did not become part of the National Glass Company.
  William A. B. Dalzell joined the company as general manager in 1901. Dalzell was from Pittsburgh, and his initial experience in the glass industry was with Pittsburgh's Adams and Company. The Dalzell brothers had been involved with the glass business as owners and management in West Virginia and Ohio. When Fostoria Glass became associated with National Glass in 1899, Dalzell was working at the trust as manager of the western department. When he joined Fostoria Glass, he brought Calvin B. Roe, who had been a bookkeeper and plant superintendent at Dalzell's Ohio plant. Dalzell quickly ascended to vice president. Under Dalzell's leadership, the Fostoria Glass Company gained a national reputation. Dalzell served as president and/or chairman from 1902 until his unexpected death in 1928.
  In 1903, the company already operated two large furnaces when it added a three-story brick building that housed a new 14-pot furnace. One trade magazine believed that the addition made the company "probably the largest independent flint glass concern in the country...." By 1904, the company had 800 employees. Products made as of 1906 included decorated lamps, globes, shades, blown and pressed tableware, high grade lead blown tumblers, stemware, and novelties. At that time, a trade magazine said that the company "makes so many lines of glassware, all so perfectly, and markets its output so successfully to all classes of buyers, that no name is better known to all classes of trade."
caption: Some Fostoria oil and electric lamps and hand-decorated vases, 1904
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