Hazel-Atlas Glass Company in Wheeling

Hazel Atlas Glass Company, the glassmaking giant in a state known for glass production, was created in 1902 by the merger of four earlier companies. The largest glass company in the United States from the 1930s until the 1950s, Hazel Atlas was a major producer of inexpensive ‘‘Depression Glass’’ table sets of pink, green, blue, colorless, and black glass. Hundreds of thousands of glass premiums given away in oats, coffee, and other products were made by Hazel Atlas.

Hazel Atlas glass plants in West Virginia included one along the Tygart River in Grafton (1916–60) that largely produced wide-mouth canning jars, and the world’s largest tumbler factory in Clarksburg (1902–87). By 1920, the Clarksburg factory had 15 acres of floor space, employed 1,200 people, and shipped all over the world. The company’s metal factories in Wheeling made lids and closures for glass containers.

By 1956, Hazel Atlas operated 12 plants across the U.S. and was contemplating a merger with Continental Can Corporation. Complex legal battles followed and anti-trust laws were used to prevent the merger. The result was that Continental Can acquired the Clarksburg tableware plant and Wheeling metal factory, with the other factories being sold to Brockway Glass Company. The handsome 1931 Hazel Atlas corporate headquarters at 15th and Jacob streets, a Wheeling landmark, was donated to West Liberty State College in 1964 and is now part of West Virginia Northern Community College (was bought by Youth Services System in 2009). 

-from: Six, Dean "Hazel Atlas Glass Company." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 14 March 2011. 

Location

▶ Headquarters: 87 15th Street (Now owned by Youth Services Systems)

▶ Wheeling Factory (made closures for glass jars): 19th and Jacob Streets 

Images

Additional Resources

Resources in the Library:
▶ Vertical File: Hazel Atlas Glass Co., Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ The Hazel-Atlas Glass: identification and value guide, Florence, Gene, 2005. Circulating copy, non-fiction stacks, CALL#: 748.2 F662h 2005
▶ The Hazel-Atlas Glass: identification and value guide, Florence, Gene, 2009. Circulating copy, non-fiction stacks, CALL#: 748.2 F662h 2009

Archives Blog Site: Archiving Wheeling
▶ Archiving Wheeling blog post: They Used to Make Things Here: The Haunting and Strangely Beautiful Decay of Wheeling’s Hazel-Atlas Factory 
▶ Archiving Wheeling blog post: Cups and Cups of Nostalgia: Hazel Atlas Milk Glass Cups

On display at the Library:
▶ West Virginia Northern Community College Alumni Association's Hazel Atlas Glass Collection, lower level of the library in the Board Room, open to the public.