O'Hara Glass Co. Ltd.

1797-1891

BiographyIn 1796, preliminary steps were taken by Colonel James O'Hara and Major Isaac Craig to found a glass-house in Pittsburgh, PA. They enlisted Peter William Eichbaum, then superintendent of the glass-house at the falls of the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania and a master workman in glass. This pioneer establishment was located on the south side of the Monongahela River, a frame building that accommodated an eight-pot furnace. Besides being the first successful glassmakers in Pittsburgh, O'Hara and Craig were the first, in America, to adopt coal as fuel in glassmaking. Major Craig wrote to Samuel Hodsen in Philadelphia on August 5, 1803: “… at the beginning of January and continued six months, we made on the average 30 boxes a week of excellent window-glass, besides bottles and other hallow-ware to the amount of one-third of the value of the window-glass."

Soon after the erection of their plant, O'Hara and Craig, while still remaining proprietorship, evidently relinquished active management to an organization of practical glass workers composed of the workmen of the plant. This management was known as Eichbaum, Wendt and Company. Around 1840, the O'Hara Glassworks became known as the Pittsburgh Glassworks, making both window panes and hollow-ware. In 1891, it joined with U.S. Glass Company and became known as “Company L.”

Person TypeInstitution

Terms