The Indiana Tumbler and Goblet Company, 1892-1903
Greentown Glass is the common name collectors give to the products of the Indiana Tumbler and Goblet Company of Greentown, Indiana. As is true with most of the origin of the industrial age in the northeastern United States, the availability of power made the manufacturing of glass and other commodities and decorative items possible. It was the discovery of natural gas in and around Howard County and Greentown that gave start to this short lived glass company.
Early on, D.C. Jenkins from the US Glass Factory of nearby Gas City took advantage of the promise of a free work site offered by Greentown residents. A factory was incorporated in 1894 and Jenkins, the primary stock owner, began a business partnership with site landowners. The company prospered in its first years despite tough competition and often fell behind meeting large product demands.
Despite high sales and its ranking as a prominent glassmaker, price cutting by the larger glassmakers made it difficult for the smaller regional companies to compete. In the hopes of stabilizing prices, the company was consolidated in 1899 along with eighteen other glass makers by the National Glass Company. Jenkins became a stockholder and director of the larger company but lost complete control of the Greentown operations. Discontent with a diminished role at Greentown, D.C. Jenks left the company in 1900 for a position with the Kokomo Glass Manufacturing Company. Many of the Greentown employees followed him the short distance west to the Kokomo plant.
The National Glass Company brought in Jacob Rosenthal to fill the void. Rosenthal got his start in the glass industry first working in Pittsburgh as early as 1866 and later in Ohio from 1880 to 1899. It’s at Greentown during the final years of the company’s history when Rosenthal developed his coveted Chocolate glass, Golden Agate, and Rose Agate.
Chocolate glass was first exhibited at the 1901 Pan American Exposition and was in great demand for the next two years. Golden Agate was developed next and production began early in 1903 with a strong market response. The last of Rosenthal’s three now famous Greentown creations was Rose Agate. Production of both Agate lines, especially Rose, was very short as all production ceased when fire destroyed the factory on June 13th, 1903.
The cause of the fire was never determined and the National Glass Company decided not to rebuild the Indiana Tumbler and Goblet Works. After his short but productive stay in Greentown, Rosenthal spent a year in Evansville, Indiana before starting with the Fenton Art Glass Company where he stayed until his death in 1933.
By Thomas P. Heinecke, Ohio p4A.com representative