Westmoreland Glass

Step inside Westmoreland Glass, an abandoned glass manufacturer in Jeanette, Pennsylvania.

Westmoreland Glass Company, established as the Westmoreland Speciality Company in 1889, initially produced bottles to store condiments. It soon expanded due to the availability of natural gas that could be used to heat the kilns. To entice employees to move to the rural area, natural gas was offered to employees for free for their company-owned houses.

By 1924, Westmoreland Glass manufactured glass lights, containers, knobs, and vases, and became known for its distinctive milk glasses in the late 1940s. The introduction of plastics for food and drink containers, coupled with higher labor costs, and cheaper imports from other countries, started a long decline in domestic glass production in the late-1950s. By the mid-1960s, the company shifted from the production of milk glass, with a nearly opaque whitish glass, to colored glass. The company declared bankruptcy and folded in 1984.