Riverside Glass
from the
Glass Encyclopedia
Riverside Glass: A short explanationRiverside Glass was formed in 1879 in Wellsburg, West Virginia, with Charles Brady, from Hobbs Brockunier & Co., as President and John Dornan from Buckeye Glass Works as the manager. The land for this glass factory had been donated by the citizens of Wellsburg to encourage a glass works to set up in their town. The first glass was produced in January 1880.
above: Croesus pattern
covered sugar bowl
by Riverside glass
Design introduced
in 1898.
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Riverside glass
However, they rebuilt the glass works and were back in operation in just a few months. The company was successful and in November 1899 they merged into the newly formed National Glass Company of Pittsburgh. Operating as Factory 15 of the National Glass Company, Riverside continued to be relatively successful and introduced several new lines over the next few years. However in 1907 the National Glass Company went bankrupt and the assets of Riverside glass works were sold to pay creditors.
During its short life span (just 27 years) Riverside produced some exceptional patterns which are eagerly collected today. Croesus, illustrated above, is probably their most famous design and was made from 1898 onwards. They also specialised in beautiful glass oil lamps with special features designed and patented by the company.
