18th century glassmaking in the United States
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18th century glassmaking in the United States began before the country existed. During the previous century, several attempts were made to produce glass, but none were long-lived. By 1700, it is thought that little or no glass was being produced in the British colonies that would eventually become the United States. The first American glass factory operated with long–term success was started by Caspar Wistar in 1745—although two glass works in New Amsterdam that operated in the previous century deserve honorable mention. Wistar's glass works was located in the English colony known as the Province of New Jersey. In the southeastern portion of the Province of Pennsylvania, Henry Stiegel was the first American producer of high–quality glassware known as crystal. Stiegel's first glass works began in 1763, and his better quality glassmaking began in 1769. In the United States, the first use of coal as a fuel for glassmaking furnaces is believed to have started in 1794 at a short-lived factory on the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia. In 1797 Pittsburgh's O'Hara and Craig glass works was also powered by coal, and it contributed to the eventual establishment of Pittsburgh as a leading glassmaking center in the 19th century.
Many of the skilled glass workers in the United States during the 17th and 18th centuries came from the German-speaking region of Europe. German–born Johann Friedrich Amelung (later renamed John Frederick Amelung) employed 342 people in 1788 at his New Bremen glass works located in Frederick County, Maryland. His skilled workers were German. Other prominent glass makers such as Wistar, Stiegel, and the Stanger brothers were also German. In many cases, as a glass works failed, the skilled workers found work at another factory.
Other attempts to produce glass were made during the 1600s and 1700s, and a few had some success. Glass works in New Amsterdam and New York City, the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, Philadelphia, and the province of New Jersey's Glassboro are often mentioned by historians. Much of the evidence concerning the 17th century New Amsterdam glass factories has been lost, and a 17th-century Massachusetts glassworks did not last long. The works at Glassboro lasted into the 20th century. However, it is thought that there were no more than a dozen glass works of significant size producing in the United States in 1800.