The Iowa City Glass Works – 1880-1882.

In the 1880’s, Iowa City was growing like a weed, with an increasing number of manufacturers coming to town, employing large numbers of Iowa Citians. The variety of factories during this time was impressive – from distilling works to packing plants; from weaving & knitting shops to manufacturers turning out such products as buttons, linseed oil, drugs, perfume, glucose sugar, jewelry, and cigars. Read more here.

One of the most interesting stories surrounding these new manufacturers of the 1880’s was the short but sweet tale of the Iowa City Glass Works. Open for business for only about eighteen months (1880-1882), this large plant – located on the city’s south side – was, at its peak, one of the largest employers in Iowa City. So, for your reading pleasure – here is the Iowa City Glass Works story…

The Iowa City Flint Glass Manufacturing Company was incorporated on April 30, 1880, by a group of ten investors – Ezekiel Clark, W. H. Brainard, J. R. Coulter, Tulloss and Company, E. Shepherd, Samuel J. Hess, E. H. Tracker, L. Y. Parker, A. J. Tucker, and J. H. Leighton. Leighton – who hailed from West Virginia – was appointed President of the corporation, served as superintendent/manager of the factory, while also adding his skills as a highly-trained glassblower.

J.H. Leighton was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1849, and at age 8, moved with his family to Wheeling, West Virginia, where his father opened the New England Glass Works. Here, J.H. grew up learning every aspect of the glass business, opening, for a short time (1874), his own shop before relocating to Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, where he became the head of operations with the Excelsior Glass Works. In 1878, J.H. came west to Iowa, settling first in Keota (Keokuk County), where he opened Keota Glass. When that business proved to be less profitable than he had hoped, Leighton closed the plant in 1879 – moving all the machinery and many of his employees to Iowa City – where he partnered with a team of willing investors – opening Iowa City Flint Glass Manufacturing Company in 1880.

The Iowa City Glass Works was located at 410 Kirkwood Avenue – on the northeast corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Maiden Lane (see map above) – adjacent to the Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Northern (BCR&N) Railroad. With sand being the primary component to glass-making, the Iowa City operation was located on the belief that sand taken from along the Iowa River – a few miles south of the plant – could be shipped the short distance to the plant by rail, making it an extremely efficient and reliable component in the company’s overall success. More on that later.

Records from 1880 indicate that the company – which opened in the fall of 1880 – had $25,000 in capital, employed 25 workers, and according to one business listing – “manufactures the finest quality of flint-glass, table-ware, etc.” Another glowing report (below) came from a 28-page booklet published by the Iowa City Board of Trade (ICBT) – dated November 1, 1880. Read more here.

Interestingly, other records indicate that there was only one other Iowa City manufacturer – The Iowa City Grape Sugar Works (often referred to as the ‘glucose works’) – that hired as many people (75), making the Glass Works, in 1881, the largest work force of any industry in the city!

Certainly, Iowa Citians Iooked upon its glass works plant with great pride. On December 13-15, 1881, the Iowa State Improved Stock Breeders’ Association held its eighth annual meeting in Iowa City, and in his opening address, Dr. Elmer F. Clapp – President of the Board of Trade and Professor of Anatomy in the SUI Medical Department, included the glass factory in his enthusiastic, summary of progress for Iowa City…

*You can read more of Dr. Clapp’s speech here.*

Without a doubt, Iowa City Glass Works (ICGW) had its unique themes, Patterns ran heavily into bird and animal motifs—dogs, cats, rabbits, horses, deer, elephants, cows, sheep, storks or cranes, and small birds. On some of the plates, mottoes appear (see below)…

The ICGW dog plate (above) is such an example – with a dog and the motto ‘Be True’ in the center, and with small birds on the enclosed handles.

*Above is a salesman’s sketch – with the dog plate included – of the ICGW “Be” plates in graduated sizes. Others in the series included a cat, a lamb, a cow-with-calf, and a flower girl.*

*Above – “Elaine” or flower girl plates. Below – a beehive motif used on larger plates.*

The best known pattern of ICGW pieces was called “Alhambra” (see above left), often mistakenly called “Teepee” or “Wigwam”, and was produced in large quantities. The plant also produced other glass items such as lamps, salt shakers, syrup pitchers, a glass hat, marbles and glass canes (see below).

The large ICGW marble, which has a diameter about one and one-half times that of a silver dollar, has four swirling bands of color, alternating pink or red-and-white and green-and-white, with occasional spots of bright green, encased in a thin layer of clear glass. Clear marbles of various sizes with spiraled threads of color have been authenticated as products of the ICGW factory, and clear marbles with little figures of animals and birds are also said to have been made here as well.

As we mentioned earlier, Iowa City Glass Works – while being the largest employer in the city in 1881 – was only open for production for eighteen months – from the late fall of 1880 until the summer of 1882. So, this begs the question…

As it is with most businesses, while you might be successful in making a good product, there are many other variables that can sink your investment quickly. So it was with Iowa City Glass Works. Briefly, allow us here to give you a checklist of four major problems that developed for the company – some popping up as soon as the plant opened in the fall of 1880.

Here’s a well-known fact about making glass. Silica sand is the primary source of silicon dioxide that is essential in the manufacturing of glass. So, since all sands are not created equal, there must be a very high proportion of silica (above 95%) in the composition of the sand being used. While J.H. Laughton was a highly-trained glassblower, he obviously didn’t bother to check on the silica levels in the sand he planned to use from the banks of the Iowa River. Records show that when Laughton tried to use Iowa River sand in his glass-making process, the particles would often “explode” or shatter – making it very difficult to work with, and in the end, produced a lessor quality glass! As a result, Laughton was forced to choose between two evils – 1) produce poorer-quality glass products which decreased its market value, or 2) ship good quality sand in from outside sources at considerably higher prices. It appears that Laughton chose a little from both options – which either way, decreased his profits.

As we mentioned above, shipping in good-quality sand from places like Indiana was a costly expense. Another high cost was shipping in the coal needed to heat the four firing furnaces used in the glass-making process. Finally, the shipping costs associated with sending finished product out of Iowa City to markets back East increased significantly in the early 1880’s. All said, while the BCR&N Railroad was conveniently located next to the plant, the costs of bringing supplies in while shipping most of your product out of town became a heavy burden for this young Iowa City-based company.

In all truthfulness, while area business leaders were bragging about the high quality of ICWS products, Laughton and his team were not always producing the best glass products. Author Mary S. Musgrove said it this way…

There are stories that ICGW products were made for mail-order trade, sold “by the barrel” to stores for use as premiums or give-aways. **William J. Holub** (below) and John Slezak of Iowa City – grandsons of **Joseph Slezak**, who was said to have been an officer in the Glass Works – said that they remember barrels full of ICGW glassware being stored in the basement of Holub’s Dry Goods store (below) – located on the NE comer of Linn and Bloomington Streets during the 1920’s. *Read more here.*

Finally, while J.H. Leighton had – in 1881 – the largest workforce in Iowa City, apparently, the men were not necessarily the best citizens of the community. Again, Musgrove tells us more…

Records indicate that the property where Iowa City Glass Works had their plant was mortgaged to Theodore Sanxay, Trustee, sometime in 1881, and that on June 2, 1882, foreclosure proceedings were started against the company. A sheriff’s deed to the property was issued to Sanxay on September 19, 1883, and after an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court, foreclosure proceedings were apparently completed when a final deed was issued on September 12, 1887. But sadly, ICGW had failed long before that, with records indicating that they closed up shop by the summer of 1882 – a run of only 18 to 20 months, at the most. Rumors have it that several railroad cars filled with finished glassware were offered to the company’s creditors for nickels on the dollar, and that numerous pieces were either given away as premiums to dealers or destroyed by employees before the offices closed.

After the legal proceedings were finalized in 1887, E. F. Rate and Sons purchased the plant, making it into a successful glove factory from 1891 until it burned in 1911. For most of the first half of the 20th century, only a few stones of the old foundation remained. In the 1950’s, the property became the location of Dick’s Sinclair Gas Station, and in the 1970’s became Eicher Florist’s Greenhouse.

The story of Iowa City Glass Works (ICGW) is far from complete, and the search by glassware collectors for authentic pieces, and for bits of information which will add to this intriguing Iowa City business story is ever continuing. So, let’s raise a glass – a ICGW product, of course – to J.H. Leighton and his short-lived enterprise. Gone but, certainly, never forgotten!

On July 1, 1976, The Iowa City Press-Citizen published a special 76-page Bicentennial edition. In that edition there were articles and pictures related to stories found on this page.

Read more here:
Page H8
Page J8

***April 30, 1880 – The Iowa City Flint Glass Manufacturing Company is incorporated by a group of ten investors.***

December 13, 1881 – The Iowa State Improved Stock Breeders’ Association holds its eighth annual meeting in Iowa City, and in his opening address, Dr. Elmer F. Clapp – President of the Board of Trade and Professor of Anatomy in the SUI Medical Department, includes The Iowa City Glass Factory in his enthusiastic summary of progress for Iowa City.

Kudos to the amazing resources below for the many quotes, photographs, etc. used on this page.

(BH-159) Kudos to Miriam Righter of Iowa City, in doing research for her book Iowa City Glass. First published in hard-cover form in 1961 and reissued later in soft-cover, the book remains a valuable resource for glassware collectors even to today. The Righters – Miriam and UI band director husband Charles – resided in the Manville Heights neighborhood of Iowa City. That’s her pictured above sorting through the remains at the old plant site, finding a large collection of glass shards, marbles, and more!