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Bakewell, Pears & Co.

Formerly	Bakewell & Ensell Benjamin Bakewell & Co. Bakewell, Page & Bakewell Bakewell, Page &   Bakewells Bakewells & Anderson Bakewells & Co. Bakewell & Pears
Company type	Private company
Industry	Glassware
Founded	1808 (1808)
Founder	Benjamin Bakewell, Benjamin Page, Edward Ensell
Defunct	1882
Fate	closed and factory site sold
Headquarters	Water and Grant streets (1808-1854); Bingham Street (1854-1888), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Key people	Benjamin Bakewell, Benjamin Page, Thomas Bakewell, John P. Pears, John P. Bakewell
Products	blown and pressed glassware, including lead crystal, with cutting and engraving
Number of employees	??? (January 9999)

Bakewell, Pears and Company was Pittsburgh's best known glass manufacturer. The company was most famous for its lead crystal glass, which was often decorated by cutting or engraving. It also made window glass, bottles, and lamps. The company was one of the first American glass manufacturers to produce glass using mechanical pressing. In the 1820s and 1830s, Bakewell glassware was purchased for the White House by presidents James Monroe and Andrew Jackson. Founder Benjamin Bakewell is considered by some to be father of the crystal glassware business in the United States.

The company was founded in 1808 by Benjamin Bakewell, Benjamin Page, Robert Kinder and Company represented by Thomas Kinder, and Edward Ensell. The original company name was Bakewell and Ensell, and the the factory was called the Pittsburgh Glass Manufactory. The company had nine different names, which typically changed when principals in the partnership changed. The name Bakewell was used in all nine names. Bakewell family members, as well as members of the Page and Pears families were also involved with the company. The name Bakewell, Pears and Company was used for the longest period, 1844 through 1880.

Northwest Ohio had a short "gas boom", starting in 1886 after the Karg Well was drilled near Findlay, Ohio. Local businessmen took advantage of the natural gas to lure new businesses to the town. Numerous businesses were started in the area, and collectively they depleted the natural gas supply by the early 1890s. On July 1, 1891, Nickel Plate Glass Company joined the United States Glass Company trust, becoming Factory N. The trust controlled more than a dozen glass plants that made tableware. Initially the trust did not get involved with Factory N's operations. An economic depression, also known as the Panic of 1893, began in January 1893. On August 12, 1893, the trust closed Factory N permanently. After attempts to restart the plant failed, the facility burned to the ground on August 28, 1895.

The glass works operated for nearly three years as the Nickel Plate Glass Company, and about two more years as Factory N of the United States Glass Company. It is remembered as one of 13 glass companies that produced in Fostoria between 1887 through 1920. Today, collectors value patterns made by Nickel Plate/Factory N now called 101 Pattern Glass, Columbian Coin, Double Greek Key, Frosted Circle, Richmond, and others. The company also made unique lamps that featured a patented double–screw that connected the base of the lamp to the lamp fount that held the kerosine.

History

Further information: 19th century glassmaking in the United States and 19th Century glassmaking innovations in the United States

In 1807 George Robinson and Edward Ensell began building a glass works along the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. They depleted their funding before construction was completed, so the incomplete works was sold in 1808 to Benjamin Bakewell, Benjamin Page, and Robert Kinder and Company represented by Thomas Kinder. The new company was known as Bakewell and Ensell, and consisted of Bakewell, Page, Ensell, and Robert Kinder and Company. It was producing and selling glass no later than November 1808. The factory's original furnace contained six pots. Mr. Ensell provided the glassmaking expertise, although Bakewell soon discovered that Ensell misrepresented his qualifications. Ensell left the company in 1809, and the firm was renamed Benjamin Bakewell and Company. The three remaining principals continued with the company.

Changes were necessary at the glass works because of a number of problems. The furnace for melting glass was badly constructed, the work force was not highly skilled and and was reluctant to train new employees, and some of the raw materials were delivered by wagon from places as far away as Philadelphia and New Jersey. Sand, a major raw material for glass, was obtained nearby—but it was low-quality and more suited for window or bottle glass than glassware. Bakewell worked to solve his factory's problems. The furnace was replaced with a ten-pot version in 1810. Better raw material sources were found, and Bakewell was able to produce better quality glass. Although many European countries forbid their glassworkers to come to the United States as part of an effort to retain glassmaking secrets, Bakewell improved his workforce by smuggling skilled glass workers from England. In advertising, the company called its glass works the Pittsburgh Flint Glass Manufactory.

Effective March 13, 1811, the company's partnership was dissolved, and it was announced that the "business will in future be carried on by B. Page and B. Bakewell, under the firm of the former partnership."

In 1814 another ten-pot furnace was added to the factory, which doubled capacity.

Notes

References

• Bakewell, Benjamin Gifford (1896). The Family Book of Bakewell, Page, Campbell; Being Some Account of the Descendants of John Bakewell... Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: W.G. Johnston & Co. OCLC 475684153. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
• Jarves, Deming (1854). Reminiscences of Glass–making. Boston, Massachusetts: Eastburn's Press. OCLC 14284772. Archived from the original on 2024-03-03. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
• Killikelly, Sarah (1906). The History of Pittsburgh: Its Rise and Progress. Chirora, Pennsylvania: Mechling Bookbindery. OCLC 1017019033. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
• Madarasz, Anne; Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania; Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center (1998). Glass: Shattering Notions. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. ISBN 978-0-93634-001-2. OCLC 39921461.
• McKearin, Georghe S.; McKearin, Helen (1966). American Glass. New York City: Crown Publishers. OCLC 1049801744.
• Moore, N. Hudson (1924). Old Glass, European and American. New York City: Frederick A. Stokes Co. OCLC 1738230. Archived from the original on 2024-03-03. Retrieved 2024-02-23.
• Palmer, Arlene (1979). "American Heroes in Glass: The Bakewell Sulphide Portraits". American Art Journal. 11 (1). Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, Smithsonian American Art Museum: 4–26. doi:10.2307/1594129. JSTOR 1594129. Archived from the original on February 24, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
• Scoville, Warren C. (September 1944). "Growth of the American Glass Industry to 1880". Journal of Political Economy. 52 (3): 193–216. doi:10.1086/256182. JSTOR 1826160. S2CID 154003064. Archived from the original on November 13, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
• Shotwell, David J. (2002). Glass A to Z. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. pp. 638. ISBN 978-0-87349-385-7. OCLC 440702171.
• Skrabec, Quentin R. (2007). Michael Owens and the Glass Industry. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing. ISBN 978-1-45560-883-6. OCLC 1356375205.
• Skrabec, Quentin R. (2007a). Glass in Northwest Ohio. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia. ISBN 978-0-73855-111-1. OCLC 124093123.
• Skrabec, Quentin R. (2011). Edward Drummond Libbey, American Glassmaker. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-78648-548-2. OCLC 753968484.