# THE UTICA GLASS MANUFACTORING COMPANY  near Vernon, New York  1810 Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 1831



## Steve/sewell (Feb 26, 2010)

*THE UTICA GLASS MANUFACTORING COMPANY  near Vernon, New York  1810 â€“ 1831*

The first glass factory in Oneida County was formed in 1809 when a stock company  established a window glass factory in Vernon, NY. The capital stock  raised was $100,000 and the share holders list consisted of many names of prominent men from Utica and Oneida County. 
 The following year an even larger factory began operations making crown glass at Utica.
 The Oneida Glass Factory made cylinder window glass and had no ties  to the Mt Vernon Glass Company that made bottles, flint glass and tableware which was also located in Vernon. The  only commonly shared interest between the two glass works was that a few of the stock holders owned shares in both works.The Oneida Glass Factory  was located in Vernon on what is now known as the Peterboro Road.It also had an office in Utica .To most bottle collectors, a window glass factory doesnâ€™t seem to have the appeal in its history like that of a bottle glass factory although most of the workers of the trade were the same. The factorys were similar,but had suttle difference's. The main difference between the two is that for cylinder window glass, an elongated ball like mass of glass was blown and then a worker called the  glass flattener cut the cylinder and rolled it out i so that you ended up with a flat piece of glass. After the glass was put into the  annealing oven and cooled, a glass cutter cut the sheet into panes of glass that were usually either 6 X 8 inches or 7 X 9 inches  or 11 X 14 and then packed in a wooden crate for shipping.

  One of the stockholders not from the Oneida area was a man known to those who collect American Glass. Lawrence Schoolcraft, who was the superintendent of the Hamilton Glassworks near Albany.He invested $2500 into the Oneida Glass Factory. The Hamilton Glass works was primarily a window glass factory but also made bottles as a secondary venture. The idea to have a window glass factory in the town of Vernon was the assistance from Lawrence Schoolcraft who agreed to spend two  full years at Vernon getting the works established. Vernon was chosen for the location of a glass factory for several different reasons. First it was located on the Seneca Turnpike which was the main East West wagon road in the center of New York State which allowed the glass to be shipped by either wagon or by sleigh in the winter months. At the same time,the construction the Erie Canal which was to be located only eight miles from Vernon  would provide an even lower cost of transportation for the shipping of  the  glassware. There was plenty of forests to supply the wood to fuel the glass furnaces, and sand was locally plentyfull, Vernon was the perfect location for a glass works. In 1813, Willet H. Sherman along with his wife Catherine Ann Schoolcraft came to Vernon. Sherman was the superintendent of the Oneida Glass Factory, until the facvtory closed in 1836.  Willet Sherman owned a large white house  next to the Oneida Glass Factory. The house still stands today and is privately owned . Around the town of Vernon the factory was known as the Sherman Glassworks.

 Lawrence Schoolcraft was only associated with the Oneida Glass Factory for two years but still  purchased a  home on the Oneida Turnpike (present day  Route 5 in Vernon) and lived in Vernon for 10 years. Lawrence Schoolcraft was a private in the Revolutionary War and when the War of 1812 with Great Britain began, he temporarily left the  glass industry and served in the war as a Colonel.Today  Lawrence Schoolcraft is buried in the cemetery in Vernon on Cooper Street. Lawrence Schoolcraft had a son Henry Rowe Schoolcraft who is also well known  in early American glass. Henry college educated and had learned the glass trade  from his father at the Hamilton Glassworks but did not accompany him to Vernon.  Henry was connected with the industry at Cheshire Massachuetsas, Geneva, New York,and at  Lake Dunmore Vermont. in 1814 Lawrence Schoolcraft was in Keene managing a window glass factory and had convinced his son Henry to come to Keene to run the Keene-Marlboro-Street Glassworks of which he was a major stockholder. These  glassworks made the famous  GIV-2 Masonic/Eagle Flask and others which have the initials of Henry Schoolcraft (HS) on the front. 

 The Oneida Glass Factory was fairly successful, but it suffered the same fate as many of the  glass houses did during the 1812-1820 time period. The War of 1812 ended on December 24, 1814. Now England which had lots of goods which had backed up in their sea ports soon flooded the market for consumers who were hungry for the higher quality Goods and glass products. Low tariffs permitted glass items made in Europe to be sold in the States lower than  American made because of manufacturing costs. This caused a recession by the year 1816 and then a complete depression which brought the American economy and the glass houses to their knees.The depression lasted till the year 1820 .
 In 1822 the Oneida Glass Factory leased the Utica Glass Works which had been built by the Utica Crown Glass Manufacturing Company  in present day Marcy. This window glass factory made crown window glass which was suppose to be of superior quality but very difficult to make. The glass was spun on a table into a round disc about 32 inches in diameter. Because it was  difficult to make, the Utica glass factory was one of  few glass  factories that made crown glass. The Boston Glass Company was the largest and most famous  for its crown glass. 
 The Utica establishment was never very successful during its existence. In 1831 the Oneida Glass Factory filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy
 thus ending the crown glass manufactoring at Utica.

 This is an ad placed in a Philadelphia newspaper in the year 1825 by an agent for the glass works (John E. Caldwell) 33 Washington Street New York that I have in my possesion.Enjoy the story you New Englandners and New Yorkers.

 A simple ad but it does show the firm existed in the year 1825.


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