A Short History of the Jeanette Glass Company

The Jeanette Glass Company was founded in 1898 in what would soon become the town of Jeanette, Pennsylvania.

The company, and indeed the town itself, was named after the wife of  H. Sellers McKee, a local industrialist who co-founded the Chambers and McKee Glass Works. His wife was Jeanette E. Hartupee McKee.

Jeanette, the town, was first incorporated as a borough in mid-1889, and quickly became known as "the glass city" because of the many glass plants that were founded in the area – making it the first large manufacturing town in Westmoreland County. Some of the most well known companies in the history of the glass industry were based in Jeanette. (Today, only two remain, as cheaper, foreign competition forced the rest out of business.)

Which brings us to the Jeanette Glass Company….. They began as a bottle plant in 1898, and later added other glassware, such as caked plates and pressed glass products.

In 1917, Jeanette began producing pressed ware only, such as  In its early days they made such items as "vault lights, prism tile, packers' ware, and novelties," and they continued to produce these items through the Depression and onward.  In 1935, they were reorganized as a publically owned corporation, and their common stock was listed on the American stock exchange in 1936.

Jeanette expanded through the years. In 1961, they bought McKee Glass Division. In 1969, they acquired Royal China and Harker Pottery. In 1970, the company changed its name to the Jeanette Corporation, and the company itself went out of business in 1983.

Jeanette is predominantly known for its various kitchenware and tableware, including depression glass patterns "Iris and Herringbone" and "Poinsettia".  Other popular patterns were Adam, Cubist, Floral, Doric, Cherry Blossom, Windsor, Sierra, Swirl, Holiday and Iris. Among their Kitchenware lines were Jennyware and full jadite lines.

Their trademarks were a “J” in a square, “J” in a triangle, and a “J” in the bowl of a goblet.

Read more about the Jeanette Glass Company.