IT TOOK A WAR
AND A BUILDING BOOM
ALMOST A CENTURY
AND A HALF AGO
TO INITIATE THE
NOW ALMOST FORGOTTEN
Making of Vermont Glass
6y RICHARD CARTER BARRET,
Director-Curator, Bennington Museum
Photographs by Sherman Howe, Jr.
A VERMONT industry, nearly lost in
history, the making of glass, gained
its first impetus in part because of the
political struggles which engulfed young
America 150 years ago.
The interference of Britain and France
with United States shipping, and the
establishment of their blockade by 1807
had aroused a strong feeling in favor of
home produced products. Various state
legislatures began to offer tax exemp
tions to new businesses, and in the
northern states particularly, capital was
attracted to new manufacturing ventures.
The Embargo of 1807, the Non-Inter
course Act and the War of 1812 itself
encouraged this interest in new Ameri
can enterprises. Between 1808 and 1814
(when the Treaty of Ghent was signed),
at least 44 new glass-making houses
were established in the United States,
according to George and Helen Mc-
Kearin in their monumental work,
"American Glass." Most of these firms
were devoted to making window glass
and bottles, and five were concerned
primarily with tablewares. Eleven more
glass factories were established by 1819,
making a total of 66 started in 12 years.
In Vermont there is record of only
four glass houses having ever been or
ganized, and three of these were closely
related. The Champlain Glass Company,
started in Burlington in 1827, produced
window glass and, quite likely, bottles.
Workmen, of course, made off-hand
pieces for their own use, but almost none
of these have survived with positive
authentication. The factory operated
until 1850 under various names—The
Champlain Glass Company until 1834,
and for another 16 years as Loomis,
Smith & Company, as James Smith &
Company, as Wilkins & Landin, and as
Smith & Wilkins. The other three glass
factories are of far greater interest.
The first glass house here was estab
lished by the Vermont Glass Factory on
the west shore of Lake Dunmore in the
town of Salisbury, and its second factory
was at East Middlebury. The final
venture was establishment of the Lake
Dunmore Glass Company in 1832, about
16 years after the failure of the first two.
The main commercial product with all
the Vermont glass houses was window
glass, as it was with the great majority of
such works in the nation during this
period. The rapid growth of the country,
including Vermont, obviously brought
with it the corresponding needs in new
housing. Here was a growing market for
an American product, and the materials
for making acceptable glass were to be
found at Lake Dunmore in quantity.
Along the shore of the lake were quan
tities of the proper sand, and the sur-
1 0 • V E R M O N T L I F E
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