Some time back, I revisited Jeannette Glass in Pennsylvania as I came across an outdated article regarding its pending demolition. Fearing that Jeannette could be gone sooner rather than later, I packed my bags, hopped into my car, dialed up some music and pointed my compass east.
Some time back, I revisited Jeannette Glass in Pennsylvania as I came across an outdated article regarding its pending demolition. Fearing that Jeannette could be gone sooner rather than later, I packed my bags, hopped into my car, dialed up some music and pointed my compass east.
Jeannette wasn’t just an ordinary glass plant. Founded in 1887, the plant closed just short of its 100th anniversary. The company introduced the first semi-automatic bottle blowing machine, manufactured beautiful Depression-era glass, and had installed the largest electric glass furnace in the world to melt heat-resisting glass.
But a buyout by a Connecticut businessman who had no knowledge of the glass industry forced Jeannette Glass into Chapter 11 bankruptcy just a year after its purchase. The businessman, John P. Brogan, bought the profitable factory and bled its assets for quick personal gain.
Not long after its closure, New York businessman Abe Zion acquired the Jeannette factory for $4 million in a bankruptcy sale. Zion had hoped to reopen the factory, but there were delays – first by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection due to hazardous wastes and industrial pollution, and a fire in the mid-1980s that caused significant damage. The state attempted to force Zion’s hand in 2011 and have him demolish the plant, but only minimal work has been completed since then.
Not that much has changed, with the exception of some clearing and a few buildings that have been razed. Click through for more on Jeannette Glass »
3 Comments
Add Yours →Abandoned buildings of all kinds, pump houses, roadsiide areas left behind etc etc. I don’t mind sounding spacey {currant word for that?] here when I say that the ENERGY in these places is Fascinating. SO TO GET BACK TO whatever compelled me to “comment” on something for the first time ever IS, Your photography is spot on fantastic. You have captured for me amazingly whats going on in my head when I’m wandering and wondering in a building. All in a moment, on film!! I wish I had the ability to see something and capture it along with all my curiouse thoughts, in seconds! Anyway thanks for work you do, your inspiring. I wish you had been my teacher. Man that was long! I’m off to a Alpaca farm to learn about dye methods . It could come in handy at the end of the world. LOL. Where’s my camera? Kindest regards, Stacey
What I wouldn’t give for some of those old molds and pieces of that factory, I collect Carnival glass and my particular pattern was made by Jeanette……..I alos repurpose things, what an adventure, a privilege and an homage to history that would be!
Too bad they weren’t able to reach their 100th year anniversary. In business even if you are on it for several years you never know what will happen to you on the next days, month or years, like this plant that has been standing for quite some time but has been bankrupt. I don’t know what will happen to this as it has been demolished now. I will just wait for more post updates.