History of Heisey Glass

From Union Army Captain to Glassworks Owner

• Augustus Heisey came to America in 1843, when he was a year old. Leaving a job as a clerk at a glass company in Pittsburgh, Heisey volunteered to serve in the Union Army in August 1862, and by the end of the Civil War, was the captain of Company C of the 155th Pennsylvania Infantry. After the war, he returned to his clerical duties with King Glass Co. in Pittsburgh in 1865, but shortly thereafter moved to Ripley Glass Co., also in Pittsburgh, as a salesman. At Ripley, he impressed the owner, George Duncan, and acquired a reputation as a top-notch glass salesman. In 1870, he married the owner's daughter, Susan. Four years later, she was given a one-quarter interest in Ripley Glass, which became George Duncan and Sons as Duncan renamed the business to reflect his joint ownership with his children. Duncan died in 1877 and by 1879, Heisey and his wife succeeded in buying the remaining half-interest in the business.

From Glassworks Owner to Commercial Manager

• The Panic of 1873, attributed to an over-extended banking system, eventually dragged many industries in America down to the point where early "mega-corporations," called "combines," were formed by wealthy investors seeking to maintain both the economy and their own funds. One such combine was U.S. Glass and, in 1891, George Duncan and Sons was absorbed by U.S. Glass, with Heisey acting as the commercial manager. In the the Pittsburgh Gazette Times of 1908, D.C. Ripley is listed as the president of U.S. Glass and one of the constituent companies of U.S. Glass is Ripley and Company -- also known as Factory F, or Ripley Glass Co., the company Heisey's former employer, Duncan, bought when his partner, Daniel C. Ripley Sr., died in 1870.

Moving West as a Hard Rock Miner

• At some point after the 1891 acquisition of Heisey's company, George Duncan and Sons, by U.S. Glass, Heisey worked in the mining industry, possibly in Arizona or Colorado, which both had sizable silver and gold strikes in 1891. By 1893, however, he succeeded in putting together his own company, located in Newark, Ohio. Heisey Glass Co. opened for business in April 1896.

A Family Business

• By 1900, the "H within a Diamond" trademark had been added to the Heisey glass company's products and the year 1914 saw Heisey add etched glass to its product line. The company continued under the leadership of Augustus Heisey until his death in 1922. His son Wilson then took over the reins of the company and introduced the first colored Heisey glass, which is one of the most collectible forms of Heisey glass today. By the time Wilson Heisey died in 1942, however, colored glass had essentially disappeared. At that time, another son of Augustus and Susan, Clarence Heisey, took over the company's top position.

The Final Act

• The years during and afterWorld War II were unkind to the glass industry, yet it was during this time that Heisey Glass introduced a line of figurines. During this time, too, foreign competition and rising production and material costs drove many glass companies to the financial brink, Heisey Glass among them. As the plant shut down for the 1957 Christmas break, Clarence Heisey locked the doors and began selling out the inventory on hand. In 1958, Imperial Glass, another conglomerate, bought the Heisey molds and until 1967, the Heisey trademark still appeared on glassware made by Imperial. On Jan. 1, 1968, the "H in a diamond" disappeared forever and, in 1984, Imperial Glass declared itself insolvent. The remaining Heisey Glass Co. molds were acquired by the Heisey Collectors Society in 1985.