South Side Flats in Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Pittsburgh Glass

Three Rivers Heritage Trail

Photographed by Bernard Fisher, May 30, 2021

1. Pittsburgh Glass Marker

Inscription. The glass industry in Pittsburgh evolved from small factories making the earliest windowpanes and hand-blown bottles into large mechanized plants using sophisticated technology. More glass was made in Pittsburgh than any other area in the United States.

In 1797, James O'Hara and Isaac Craig opened the first Pittsburgh glass manufactory on the South Side to serve a profitable market in the Ohio River Valley. By the 1870s the city had 46 glassworks and employed nearly 6000 people, third only to the iron and steel industry in productivity and employment.

Glass in the expanding new nation was needed for windows, mirrors, containers, flasks, lanterns, and bottles and jars for medicine, spirits, table ware, and countless other uses. The essential materials for glass manufacturing—fuel, silica, and potash—were plentiful in Pittsburgh, as was the skill of laborers and business enterprise.

The South Side was the home of many successful glass factories, including companies owned by Ihmsen, McKee, and Evans. PPG Industries, a leading global manufacturer of glass, began here in 1883. Pittsburgh glass was famous for its variety, ranging from utilitarian industrial products and to highly artistic cut glass and beautiful free-blown and colored glassware in many shapes. Today fine Pittsburgh glass is highly prized by collectors.

(captions)
Pressed "Lacy" Glass table ware, 1830-1840
Free-blown non-lead glass wares, 1800-1825
The interior of a glass factory in 1887
Thomas Evans Glass Factory was near this site
Containers for whiskey, beer, condiments, medicines and other products were made in Pittsburgh

Erected by Friends

Paid Advertisement

Click or scan to see
this page online

of the Riverfront, DCNR, Steel Industry Heritage Corporation, City of Pittsburgh, PHMC.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce.

Location. 40° 25.903′ N, 79° 59.291′ W. Marker is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County. It is in the South Side Flats. It is on Three Rivers Heritage Trail 0.4 miles east of South 4th Street, on the left when traveling east. Not accessible by motorized vehicle. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Pittsburgh PA 15203, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the American Northeast,

in the Mid-Atlantic,

in the Ohio River Valley,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Northern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France,

the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

and one of the original Thirteen Colonies.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Pennsylvania Canal in Pittsburgh

Three Rivers Heritage Trail image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Bernard Fisher, May 30, 2021

2. Three Rivers Heritage Trail

(here, next to this marker); Panhandle Railroad (here, next to this marker); Oliver Iron and Steel (approx. 0.2 miles away); Bedford School (approx. 0.2 miles away); South Side Market House (approx. 0.2 miles away); Seventeenth Ward World War Memorial (approx. 0.2 miles away); South Side High School (approx. ¼ mile away); First Associated Reformed Church of Birmingham (approx. ¼ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Pittsburgh.

Also see . . . Friends of the Riverfront. (Submitted on June 2, 2021.)

Credits. This page was last revised on February 2, 2023. It was originally submitted on June 2, 2021, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. This page has been viewed 542 times since then and 30 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on June 2, 2021, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia. 2. submitted on June 1, 2021, by Bernard Fisher of Richmond, Virginia.