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This view of the Huntington Tumbler factory dates from 1910.
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HUNTINGTON --
In the late 1890s, a group of local businessmen purchased land just west of
Huntington
and developed a new town, Central City. From its birth, the new
community worked hard at attracting
industry. One of the factories that thrived
in Central City was the Huntington Tumbler Co.
Huntington
Tumbler began as the West Virginia Flint Bottle Co., established in 1893 on 15th
Street West between
Madison and Jefferson avenues. It manufactured glass bottles
and fruit jars. An article in the Huntington Advertiser
of Aug. 20, 1895,
reported that several glass blowers and molders had arrived from Martins Ferry
and Wheeling
to work at the new factory. An 1896 newspaper article said the
factory had a capital stock of $100,000.
After a
couple of owners, the factory was sold to Anton Zihlman in 1900. Zihlman had
learned the glass industry
in Germany and had come to Central City by way of
Bellaire, Ohio, and Cumberland, Maryland.
The West
Virginia Flint Bottle Co. was renamed Huntington Tumbler in 1904. In addition to
tumblers,
the company manufactured barware, stemware and cut glass. Much of the
company's glassware
was etched with intricate and fanciful designs.
The fires in
the plant's glass furnaces were kept burning with huge quantities of coal from
the Pearl Mining Co. at Dingess,
West Virginia, shipped via the Norfolk &
Western Railway. At its peak of production, Huntington Tumbler employed 150
workers. It wasn't unusual for a family to have several members working at the
factory in various jobs.
In the 1920s,
the company expanded its product line to include glass vases and even
candlesticks.
A 1928 advertisement in "China, Glass and "Lamps" magazine
promoted the company's
"New and Snappy Items" in "High Grade Lead Blown Table
Glassware.
Like many other factories, Huntington Tumbler was a casualty of the Great Depression. It closed in 1932.
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Note: This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Oct. 06 , 2014
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