Wistarburg Glass Works

The Wistarburg Glass Works (sometimes spelled Wistarburgh Glass Works; also known as the United Glass Company) was the first successful glass factory and joint-venture enterprise in the Thirteen Colonies. Caspar Wistar founded the glass works company in 1739. He began by recruiting experienced glass artisans from Europe, and built homes for the workers along with a mansion for the factory's foreman. Wistar also had a company store built near the factory. The village that developed around the factory adopted Wistar's name, and became known as Wistarburg. The village was in Salem County, New Jersey, in the township of Alloway. Wistar's factory produced thousands of glass bottles per year, as well as window glass. Wistar was a friend of Benjamin Franklin, and made glass globes for Franklin's electricity-producing machines used for scientific research. Wistar's son inherited the business and his son, Wistar's grandson, eventually gained control of the company, but owing to his mismanagement it closed.

Company foundation Caspar Wistar (1696–1752) emigrated from the Palatinate region of Germany to Philadelphia in 1717. There he began making brass buttons, which he would take with him on sales visits to Salem County, New Jersey. On one such trip he noticed that the township of Alloway had an abundant supply of the necessary materials for glass manufacture – white sand, clay, wood, and accessible waterways of the nearby Deep Run and Alloway Creek rivers for transporting raw materials in and finished products out. He was thus encouraged to establish a glass factory there. Wistar's was not the first to be built in colonial America. Earlier establishments had been set up at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 and 1621. They were founded to export glass items to England, but ultimately failed, having produced little, if any, glass. Wistar's button-making business proved to be a success, and together with his gains from speculating in land allowed him to accumulate sufficient capital to fund a new enterprise. He began his glass-making venture in 1737 by buying 2,000 acres (810 ha) of land about eight miles (13 km) from Salem, New Jersey, and commenced construction of his factory – which became the first commercially successful glass factory in America. He arranged in January 1738 to lease 50 acres (20 ha) of land containing 18,000 cords (65,000 m3) of wood from John Ladd, a local landowner. Wistar then recruited four experienced glass makers from the Palatinate region of Germany – C. Halter, S. Griessmeyer, J. Wentzel, and J. Halter – to make the factory operational. He organized a joint venture with them, dividing profits in exchange for the art of glass making. The four artisans were to teach this art to the Wistars and nobody else in the colonies. Wistar had arranged for their journey to America, and they arrived in Philadelphia from Rotterdam on the ship Two Sisters in September 1738. Wistar had houses built near the factory to rent for the key artisans and other workers that were usually indentured immigrants. He also had a mansion constructed for the factory's foreman, which also served as a lodging and office for Wistar while on his visits to the factory from his home in Philadelphia. A company store was constructed for the workers' needs. Products could be purchased on credit against the glass a worker would make in the future; a bookkeeper was employed to keep track of the store accounts and housing rents. The store also served the people of the village of Alloway, and was the center of community life.

Joint venture Wistar entered into a profit-sharing arrangement with the four German artisans who had helped to make his new factory operational. To ensure their continuing support, he set up a joint venture among five members, the first cooperative manufacturing joint-venture business in America and the first long-term successful glasshouse. The 1739 company began trading as the United Glass Company, which consisted of three individual joint ventures. Wistar was the general manager and primary share holder, with a two-thirds majority ownership in each of the joint ventures. The four Germans held one-third ownership and shared the expenses, assets, and profits of the three individual joint ventures. The first entity under the umbrella enterprise was held between Wistar and Wentzel, the second between Wistar and C. Halter, and the third between Wistar, Griesmeyer and J. Halter. The joint venture arrangement remained in effect until Wistar's death in 1752.

History

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