If You Ask Me / By Martha Knight

Some ideas arrive full-formed, like Minerva from the forehead of Zeus. Some are more like the locust seedling just germinated from its bean, and need much time to develop. Some seem like ugly larvae but will morph into lovely moths or butterflies.

If you have read my columns here, and in the “Times Herald” in the old days, you might remember that I used to carry on about the need for a glass museum, and a glass festival. At least one reader remembers, and reminded me of that last week. (He was thinking that my columns were in the “Era” then, but actually “Portside” was in that other area daily.)

Why were such events and institutions in Toledo, Ohio, but not here? And here we were, the glass block capital of the world!

Well, we did have a glass festival, for several years. After a year or two as a stand-alone event it was combined with an arts festival. It was held in the fall. Sometimes art works were in the Square, sometimes they were hung in the Lake Building. There were hot glass or lamp work demonstrations, and one year folks toured the stained glass in various churches, and a year or two they visited the studio of the pot metal glazier in the community.

Why the glass festival and art festival, either as separate events or a combined one, ended I don’t remember. Most likely it was because the few volunteers got worn out. Also, the Council on the Arts grants were repurposed or maybe became stingier in some austerity administration.

And why didn’t the glass industries and the historical group (in those days headed by Charlie Catlin) get together and start a museum in which to house and display specimens of the glass products that had been produced here? Certainly various styles of glass blocks would have been there.

So, too would have been dish ware, because Pittsburgh Corning produced Pyrex casseroles, skillets, lids, dessert dishes and custard cups. These were made here in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

The cookware had a slight tint, blue or grey or green or yellow, depending on what metal oxides were in the sand. Some ware embossed with fancy designs. Some items had clever clamp-on handles made of Lucite and steel, which could be attached to the casseroles for use on surface units, but would melt in the oven.

Of course there were the little serving sets and square mini canisters, and the horse head and dog book ends and the solid blocks so handy for door stops.

Items that failed inspection were given to the workers, and still turn up at yard sales. Meanwhile, there is the book I never seem to get started, but I hope someone does, showing the many uses of glass blocks in this area.

For all the Pittsburgh Corning ware that could be celebrated and displayed, there’s other glass that has been produced here, which figured prominently in our history and our economy.

More than one window glass maker produced flat glass. There was Mississippi Glass, for instance. Safety glass with wire embedded in it was developed here—and the process of making sure there would be no air trapped by the wire was the basis of extended litigation about patent rights and royalties. When a Burgart progenitor finally established his rights, his fortune was made.

Then there have been the glass container companies based here. A few years ago the local “bottle works” was the biggest employer in the county. It still is a major force in the local economy. It has made some classic containers, from whiskey decanters to Avon bottles and jars.

The question I have heard and that has been emailed and chatted to me more than any other since talk of the Serenity Glass Park started is, “Why only glass blocks?” A variant is, “Why only Pittsburgh Corning?”

I have no answer for that, but perhaps the idea people who were in touch with each other over the past several weeks know what their thinking has been, as to that choice. It sounds as if there may be more variety of products displayed, and possibly sold, inside the little building (where SWAMP teen center was).

Some of the glass “art” made in this community is in the McKean County Historical Society’s Old Jail museum in Smethport. Last I knew they had a number of examples of the glass canes with swirling colors, made by workers at Pierce glass when there was leftover molten glass for them to play with. I have seen some amazing pieces that had been turned out with off-hand skill, by nameless workmen who would not have considered themselves artists.

As some have mentioned, Foamglas was a very important product here, for years. It figured prominently in war effort during WWII, earning this plant the coveted E award. Long after PC built its first spin-off plant, in Sedalia, Mo., Plant 2 continued to produce cellular insulation. It is in all our schools and in what was Community Hospital, donated by the company. We were more aware of the highly visible glass blocks, and clear insulating glass, whereas Foamglas was hidden from view.

Display it in the little store? Howie Johnson did make some fine carvings using Foamglas as a medium.

The post-war construction boom offered a great opportunity to PC to market insulation. Why not diversify? Get it hot enough, Foamglas will melt. Not so, asbestos. So PC began making its Unibestos line of formed insulation products. Alas, the company was anything but transparent about the hazards involved. The consequences have been nothing short of tragic, and costly in many ways. The monument to that is the Port Allegany Asbestos Health Center, the nation’s first such clinic. It is funded by the company.

Those who have ideas concerning the prospective Serenity Glass Park should contact the planners. A public space, permanently removed from the tax rolls, purchased and cleared with public funds should have lots of public input.

Peace.