The Belmont Glass Company, also known as the Belmont Glass Works, was one of the first glass factories in Bellaire, Ohio

Bellaire, Ohio

Bellaire is a village in Belmont County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,278 at the 2010 census. The village is located along the Ohio River...

. Bellaire was known as “Glass City” because of the numerous glass factories that operated there in the period from 1870 to 1885. The city benefited from good transportation resources such as the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

, the National Road

National Road

The National Road or Cumberland Road was the first major improved highway in the United States to be built by the federal government. Construction began heading west in 1811 at Cumberland, Maryland, on the Potomac River. It crossed the Allegheny Mountains and southwestern Pennsylvania, reaching...

, the Central Ohio Railroad

Central Ohio Railroad

The Central Ohio Railroad was the third railroad to enter Columbus, Ohio, and the first to connect Columbus with the east coast. It eventually became a part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.- History :...

, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 —- and it was part of the eastern Ohio coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 region. Bellaire is part of Belmont County. An 1877 drawing of the Belmont Glass Works lists the company's products as "table ware, lamps, [and] stationers glass ware."

Belmont Glass began operations in 1866, and its original directors were W. G. Barnard, Henry Faupel, Charles Henry Over, John Robinson, and David Carr. The company began as a chimney factory, but switched to glass pressware for the kitchen and bars. The company also made lamps. The organizers of the company had glass-making experience gained from the South Wheeling Glass Works of Hobbs, Brockunier & Company located across the Ohio River. Henry Faupel is listed as president of the company in 1871-1872. The company's president in 1877 was E. G. Morgan, and C. H. Thomas was company president in 1886.

While the company is often called the Belmont Glass Works, its name was Belmont Glass Company from 1866 to 1888, and then Belmont Glass Works from 1888 to 1890. Some of the well-known glass-makers of the early 20th century learned their skill at this plant, including Jacob Crimmel, Billy Pracht, Johnny Mullen, Dennis Murphy, and Jas. "Hayes" O'Neil. These men were skilled in multiple-aspects of glass making, and they continued to practice their trade in Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia after leaving Belmont Glass. The economic times became difficult in the 1880s, and Belmont Glass ceased operations in 1890.

Belmont Glass Company/Works of Bellaire, Ohio should not be confused with several other companies with similar names. A Belmont Glass Works was located in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England. A Belmont Glass Company, Inc. is located in Belmont, New Hampshire

Belmont, New Hampshire

Belmont is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,356 at the 2010 census.The primary settlement in town, where 1,301 people resided at the 2010 census, is defined by the U.S...

.