Shades of Glass
Gaffer Bournique's Journey to Indiana
by
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......It is impossible to overstate the importance of glass in America of the nineteenth century and glass as an important industry. If Mr. Robinson of The Graduate said, "Go into plastics, young man," his counterpart in the Civil War and Gilded Age would have said, "Invest in glass, young man."
......Joseph and later Adolphe worked for as many as twenty plants across New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio and eventually Indiana. We are able to trace the major steps along this journey.
......In May of 1876, Joseph Bournique blew the heaviest article ever blown since the art of glassmaking was discovered. It was a special order glass dish to be used on a glass fountain. The dish measured two feet nine inches in diameter and weighed sixty-eight pounds.
......The first factory to locate in Kokomo with the discovery of gas was the Kokomo Windowglass Company, at the corner of today's East North Street and North Main...
......It took a certain constitution to be a window glassblower; not many men could qualify. The iron blowpipe weighed from 30 to 50 pounds, and the gather of the glass added another 50 to 70 pounds.
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About the Book
This visually attractive presentation includes over 100 historical photos and documents. It follows the forty year career of a highly skilled American glassworker, Adolphe Bournique. From 1874 until his death in 1913 he, like the glass industry, moved from the New England states, across the Midwest until he founded his own firm in Kokomo, Indiana. The firm's primary product was art glass in sheet form which was used for church windows and the popular Tiffany style lamps. As an aside, Bournique Glass produced high end, molded glass lamp shades. A copy of its 1913 shade catalog is reproduced.
During this same period, America was enjoying a period of extraordinary industrial expansion and affluence. The nation’s thirst for glass products of all types was unquenchable. In order to produce glass, these plants required huge amounts of fuel to fire the furnaces. For hundreds of years that fuel had been wood and coal. However in 1886, a new fuel, natural gas was discovered in Ohio and Eastern Indiana. Almost instantly the Midwest was transformed from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. Hamlets turned into towns and towns exploded into cities.
This book concentrates on how both the gas and glass booms affected Eastern Indiana and particularly Howard County. It is also a study in the personalities involved. Some were robber barons from outside the area. Others were locals who took advantage of the opportunities of the time.
Glass enthusiasts, students of industrialization and history buffs will find this book to be an excellent resource.
About the Author
Ken Humphrey received an undergraduate degree from
A native of
This book is a result of his interests in general business, glass and history.
His background in the graphic arts field is reflected in this beautifully illustrated volume.