"An Abundance of Glass"

The Meriden Flint Glass Company was a glassmaking factory that operated in Meriden, CT, from 1876 to 1888. Located at the epicenter of the nineteenth-century silver industry, the glassworks manufactured both functional and decorative cut and art glass, gaining national recognition for the quality of its product. If timing, however, is everything, then the company's timing could not have been worse. The Meriden Flint Glass Company came in on the crest of a national wave of enthusiasm for ornamental glass. Pummeled, though, by successive one-two punches of newer, cheaper methods of manufacture, the rise of the American labor movement (which it ironically helped to foster), the high cost of fuel, and by changing tastes, the Meriden Flint Glass Company rose to prominence and then quietly faded from memory in the brief span of a dozen years.

“An Abundance of Glass” is the story of the Meriden Flint Glass Company. It is set during the heyday of American decorative glass production, which was from 1876 to 1917, against the larger backdrop of national trends and events. The story follows an ensemble of people connected with the Meriden Flint Glass Company as they wend their individual courses around jobs, families, friends and co-workers. Many aspects of their Victorian-era lives are remote to us now, and any chances of oral history accounts have long passed. However, still extant personal letters and diaries, newspaper accounts, business journals, account ledgers and trade journals, historical society records, and, of course, the Internet, help to document and reconstruct their lives. Birds-eye and insurance maps, drawings, photographs, and real places help bring the ghost of what once was into sharper relief today, as we survey their era from our present-day vantage point, and even as we still seek out, collect and posthumously enjoy the products of their craft.

The Meriden Flint Glass Company  produced high quality art glass, employing some of the top artisans in the nation. For one reason or another, however, the company has been overlooked in the annals of glassmaking history, and its products have been misattributed to other glass companies, mainly the New England Glass Company and Boston & Sandwich. This website, and soon the book, will endeavour to correct much of that, as well as provide some interesting facts and photos about the Meriden Flint Glass Company.

What's up with the Meriden Flint Glass Company today:

Three of the original four main buildings, although much renovated, are still standing in 2009. The neighborhood that was built up around the factory for its employees is still fairly intact. Many of the glassworkers' homes are still lived in today, although it is doubtful that their current inhabitants know the original purpose of their construction.

The grounds around the factory building are littered with 19th-century glass. Twice a year, a few intrepid members of the Meriden Historical Society dig for glass at the factory site. We go in early spring, after the ground has thawed and before the undergrowth blocks our way, and again in late fall after the vegetation has died off and the copperheads have gone into hibernation! It's quite a thrill to unearth locally-made glass that hasn't seen the light of day in over a century, and we have gotten buckets full! Our most recent dig was on Sunday, November 30, 2008. Digging under the old railroad tracks that run behind the factory, we found some beautiful large chunks of solidified molten glass, as well as a few pressed pieces.

On December 18, 2008,  the CT State Historic Preservation Office reviewed  the factory and surrounding neighborhood and decided to list the site on the State Register of Historic Places. They are also pursuing its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

I am available to speak about the Meriden Flint Glass Company.  Please feel free to contact me if you would like me to speak to your club or organization, or if you have any questions or information about the Meriden Flint Glass Company.. My e-mail address is dtobin1955@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!