The Whitney Glass Works company was formerly known as Harmony Glassworks. Thomas H. Whitney worked as an apprentice in Harmony Glass Works, and in 1835, he gained full control in the ownership and management of what is now known as Whitney Glass Works. He brought his brother Samuel Whitney into the business as a partner. The Whitney Glass Works encompassed an area of twelve acres and had five furnaces, producing approximately 525 tons of glassware each month.

The company produced more than just glass. They created machines and molds and had a blacksmith shop, a box and packaging shop, and multiple warehouses. When Thomas and Samuel Whitney retired in 1878, Thomas' son John P. Whitney and Thomas W. Synnott took over the business management. In 1883 they acquired the newest and largest furnace in the United States at the time, and the addition of this new furnace created jobs for almost 200 men. On October 26, 1895, the Whitney Glass Works caught fire and the post office was the only building on that side of High Street that was undamaged.

In 1891 Thomas Synnott retired. In 1913 John Whitney died.


To explore more:

The Glassboro Story: See the chapters The Beginnings; The First Families; Glassboro on its Way; Entrance Into the Modern Age, Expansion and Township


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