The History of the Seneca Center

 Morgantown has reason to be proud of its history of glass production. And Seneca Glass Company played a significant role in this history. It produced some of the finest hand blown, hand-cut and etched, lead crystal in the world, as well as being one of the oldest factories of its kind in America using the centuries-old technology. When the firm closed its doors, in August 1983, a nearly one-hundred-year old tradition ended.

In 1891 a small group of glass-making artisans purchased the then-defunct Fostoria Glass Company in Seneca County, Ohio. The new stock-holders took a West Virginia charter and a new name and became the Seneca Glass Company in Moundsville, West Virginia.

The decision to build the plant in Morgantown in 1896 coincided with and was an integral part of the rapid growth of the city after 1890, both when transportation via the river and the railroad became established, and when natural gas and oil resources were discovered nearby. In order to entice Seneca Glass Company to settle in Morgantown, an investment firm offered free land, cheap gas, and a subsidy. Seneca was only one of at least fourteen major glass companies that eventually became established in the Morgantown area.

 The building is important architecturally as an example of a small industrial complex. It’s most striking exterior feature is the original conical stack, which towers over the rambling brick and metal building that houses the original 1896 reverberatory gas furnace, the blowing and lehr rooms, formerly the pot arches, and other areas needed for the factory’s operations. The water tower, situated in front, has called attention to the complex for decades.

Much of the original 1896 brick portion is still standing, as is that section designed by Elmer Jacobs after a disastrous fire in 1902. Jacobs, a prominent Morgantown architect better known for his designs for residential and commercial buildings in Morgantown, had earlier designed factories in Pittsburgh.

Maps, floor plans, and interviews with former workers indicate that throughout its history, the Industrial complex consisted of work areas or shops, all connected by doors, passageways, and bridges. Throughout the years, small units were added onto the main building and into the grounds out front.

In 1947, the post-war boom demanded extensive expansion, and the firm constructed a major addition to the northwest for glass cutting, removed many of the small buildings, and replaced with corrugated steel much of the original corrugated iron that had covered portions of the blowing room.

When the plant closed in 1983, the original cutting room on the second floor still contained the old freight elevator. The cutting room floor was diagonally laid with maple and white pine boards, and almost four dozen windows let the light pour in.

The massive blowing room was the heart of the building. Eighty by eighty feet, it still houses the magnificent brick stack, furnace, and fourteen clay ovens, or pots. The stack rises approximately thirty feet from the floor to its point of penetration through the hipped roof. All of the late nineteenth-century wooden and metal structural members of the dramatic roof trussing are exposed–literally hundreds of posts, girders, bolsters, rafters, bridges, and sills. High up on the roof are the louvered vents of the lantern, which were manually opened and closed to allow hot air to escape and cool air to enter.

 The furnace itself is more than thirty feet in diameter and nine feet high. A metal ring with hundreds of vents and levers completely encircles it. This blowing device supplied cool air to the glass workers for their blowing operations. Even the molds for shaping the ware were made by Seneca craftsmen.

The original lehr room was sixty by sixty feet, with a roof lantern. In the room were long annealing lehrs with conveyor belts, which slowly cooled the glass until it reached a specific temperature, thereby tempering, or strengthening it. The ware was then taken to a “crack-off” machine, next, on to a man who smoothed It with an imported blue (grind) stone, then, on to be glazed, reannealed, and finally, after being graded for quality, sent on to be etched, engraved, decorated, or cut, before being polished.

The line shafts with wooden pulleys, which ran the 140-foot length of the original cutting room, were evidence of the original glass-cutting operation involving the use of a single motor that carried all the power to the cutting lathes and polishing operations. Since the speed of the individual cutting wheels could not be individually controlled, the methodology obviously lacked flexibility. Not only was fine cutting time-consuming, but there was a great deal of waste because of the vibration of the lines. Therefore, in the 1947 addition, individual components needed for a safer and more efficient operation were installed.

Skilled craftspeople were essential in a plant with the technology of Seneca Glass Company. Most of the original workers came from Europe, in particular from France, Belgium, and Germany. They set up residence near the factory. In the early years of the century, young boys learned the exclusively male trade from their elders. Women etched, washed, and packed. Until just before the firm closed, it was using much the same technology it had when it opened. Sophisticated hand labor and a great deal of time were vital factors in the production of lead crystal. Numerous people handled a single piece: it could take as much as twelve man-hours to produce one goblet.