In this video, we cover the history of this glass works which spans from about 1837 - 1908. This glassworks operated for Birmingham, the South Side of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh.Founders include Samuel McKee, James McKee and Thomas McKee. The next generation includes Christian Ihmsen McKee, Daniel McKee and A. Clarke Dravo along with the long-time workers of the firm. This includes William O'Leary, the son of William O'Leary from O'Leary and Mulvany & Co. glassworks.
#thomasmckee #jamesmckee #samuelmckee #mckee #mckeeglass #SMcKeeCo #americanglass #antiques #pittsburgh #glassbottles #eapg #history #antiqueglass #earlyamericanhistory #1800s #pittsburghhistory #glasscollecting #monongahela #allegheny #birmingham #southside
Transcript
[Intro music] 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:29:14
Hi, I'm Melanie, and this is Artifact and Landmark. This episode is about S. McKee & Co., a glassworks that operated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the Victorian period. The company S. McKee & Co. is a fun topic since it's one of the earlier glass houses in Pittsburgh, and we'll be going over many old maps, which will also give you a little bit of an idea of the history of Pittsburgh during this period.
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So the company specializes in windows and what are now collectible bottles, fruit jars and insulators. This business was also known as the Pennsylvania Glassworks. Owning a piece of this glass house's history can be done fairly inexpensively, and we have a few examples here of what they produced. First, we have a flask bottle in three different sizes, and we have a fruit jar.
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These first two examples are a bit more difficult to find and generally will cost between 15 and $50. Online and antique bottle shows. You can actually find some upcoming shows if you're interested and seeking these or other bottleworks. What you'll find from these glass works very frequently are the square Hofstadter's Bitters bottles, and those can run anywhere between $10 and $100.
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But you'll find many of these online most of the time. So one of the rarest bottles, you can find, from S. McKee Co, which is rarely ever found. But there's a wonderful example in the Heinz Museum is one of these old flasks. So when and how did this glass house get started and who were the founders?
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So this company was founded in about 1937. By three brothers, Samuel. He was about 28. James is about 31 and Thomas was about 36 years old. And these brothers hails from the region of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. And after their father's death, the family moved from Carlisle to Pittsburgh. And the boys grew up on the south side of Pittsburgh, which was then known as Birmingham.
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We believe the Samuel McKee learned his trade at the Birmingham Glassworks. And that's where he probably met his future father in law, Charles Ihmsen. So the locations of the works in the warehouses. So when aS. McKee & Co. was founded in 1837, it had his works on the south side in Birmingham, on what was then known as Denman and Washington, which is now known as Sarah Street.
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Its works would remain at that location for the life of the company. The site is now the site of Armstrong Field, which is a combination of an open field and there are tennis courts and some. There is a basketball court on site. So aS. McKee & Co. was not only at this location, they also expanded the works across the street.
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And we can see on this old map, that location and how the bottle works were laid out at the time. So the offices and the warehouse were on the opposite side of the river, the Monongahela, and at first they would be at Wood and Virgin Alley, which is now Oliver Avenue. But they did not stay there for very long.
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We see them moved to Second Street, which is now Boulevard of the Allies, between Wood and Market. And finally they moved to 62 and 63 Water Street, which is now Fort Pitt Boulevard at this final location, and McKee & Co's immediate neighbors on Water Street were Hostetters's Bitters. And, they were to the left if you are facing the building.
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And then a relative of his was also to the right, Andrew Hartupee. So the firm may have started due to Samuel again, one of the founding brothers, and his personal ties to the glass industry. In 1829, Samuel marries Mary Ihmsen. She was the sister to both Christian Ihmsen who is a leading glass manufacturer and Catherine Ihmsen, who married Frederick Lorenz, who was another leading glass manufacturer at the time.
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And of course, these Ihmsens were all the children of one of the founders of Birmingham Glassworks. In 1837, in the Harris Directory. They have a wonderful list. And in that list we see the production, of S. McKee alongside his brothers in law, Christian Ihmsen and Frederick Lorenz. You can see that he's producing about the same amount of window glass boxes as Christian Ihmsen
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but definitely, Frederick Lorenz is producing a lot more, and he does have additional locations as well where he's producing glass. And you can actually look through the rest of those lists, and hopefully eventually we'll be covering many more of these companies. So although we see that S. McKee & Co. is producing about 5500 boxes of window glass, the value of it is about $38,500.
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And we know that they have about 40 employees working at the firm. So next we'll go over the history of the company by decades. So we're going to start early on in this in the 1830s when this company was established again, it was established in 1837, in 1839. They do move from their initial location, meaning their warehouses and their offices to that second Street address.
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And we also see that they're producing in 1839 through this advertisement, also, hollow Ware, which is essentially tableware. Now, we'll skip to the 1840s. So now we're going to move on to another advertisement. This one is from 1841. And in it we see their produce in common and imitation crown window glass, bottles, jars and more. As a quick, primer on this at the time.
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At the time, glass manufacturers were producing what they called crown glass, which was taken by spinning out the glass into circular form and then taking that circular piece of glass and then cutting it up into panes of glass. Cylinder glassblowing techniques, which was essentially what this imitation crown glass was referring to. In that case, they blew out these great large cylinders.
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And you can see that illustrated in this picture. And then they would cut it, flatten it, and then cut window panes from it. It would produce a much smoother pane of glass, which could then be used for things like mirrors and obviously, clear panes of glass and buildings. So in 1843 we see that S. McKee & Co. is also selling dry goods, with its first advertisement for sugar.
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So this would go on for many years, I believe, for over a decade where they would just sell various items, dry goods items from their locations both on the south side and within their warehouse and offices in Pittsburgh. So the directory for the following year, meaning 1844, we see, we see a listing for the company, both as a merchant and a glass house.
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In 1844, we see additional advertisements for sugar and dried peaches. That same year, in 1844, the company installed the first rotating oven in the west and for cooling down the glass in 1845, Pittsburgh has a major fire. The McKee office and warehouse at Second Street burns down, but their manufacturing on the south side is unaffected.
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They do temporarily move their offices or sorry, their warehouse at George Wyman's, who is a tobacco manufacturer, who's located at Diamond and Smithfield and S. McKee & Co., was not the only glass house that was affected. Most were affected. In this painting, off to the left hand side, you can see the burnt out structure of the Bakewell glass house.
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And since Bakewell operated their glass house and lived in Pittsburgh, they were greatly affected by this fire.
So we see in September 1845 that they announced the opening of their rebuilt warehouse at the same location on Second Street, again between Wood and Market. We also see they have not given up on their dry goods business as they advertise the stock of feathers in October that same year.
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So in 1847, we are fortunate that an article appears that highlights where some of the window glass ended up being installed. Now it includes these three following areas. So we have the Monongahela Hotel. At times it was called also the Monongahela House, which was a hotel at the end of Smithfield and Pittsburgh, which no longer exists.
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The state House at Columbus, Ohio, which may still have some of the plate glass installed. And the planters House in Saint Louis, Missouri.
So let's skip forward to the 1850s. In 1855, we see an advertisement that shows an extended line of glass being produced, which now includes flask, pickles and preserved jars, wine porters, mineral water bottles, telegraph and lightning rod insulators.
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In 1857, ThomaS. McKee, the eldest of the three brothers, decides to retire from the firm, which leaves Samuel and James as partners. At this time to Thomas's son Frederick and JameS. McKee will also have started their own glassworks, back in 1853, and this may also be one of the reasons he's left the glassworks. So if we skip to 1860 and 1861, we see Samuel taking on additional partners.
00:10:02:18 - 00:10:37:15
And this includes Robert Wallace, his son in law, and Samuel’s son, William F McKee. Two years later, in 1863, all the regional manufacturers, including S. McKee & Co. works, are called upon to help build 37 forts in response to the possible invasion of the Confederate Army. If you've never seen these 37 forts or mounds, and this is a map that illustrates their location, a S. McKee & Co. would have been responsible, to help build the one on Mount Washington.
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That same year, we see the warehouses moved to 62 Water Street, now Fort Pitt Boulevard. Again, his neighbors at this location would be the famous bitters manufacturer Hostetter Bitters, and his relative, Andrew Hart. Today if you collect antique bottles, you will run across a lot of Hostetter bitter bottles. They produced a tremendous amount of these.
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And then S. McKee is just one firm that would have actually produced these bottles. So in 1864, two out of the three of the original founders pass. So James and Thomas McKee. So it's almost no surprise, then, in July of 1864, Samuel, seriously injured himself. He's climbing aboard one of the passenger streetcars. And, while he's getting on the streetcar, a horse has a sudden start.
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I don't know if it got spooked, but it starts going forward. And the railcar, of course, passes over him. He's thrown to the ground. His arm is broken, his leg is broken, and he does suffer some internal injuries. We see, of course, that he does recover because he goes on in his business. In 1867, we see the partnership between the remaining partners, Robert Wallace, his son in law, and his son, William F McKee, dissolve.
00:12:12:06 - 00:12:41:08
The firm does continue. So in the following year. In 1868, their warehouses at 63 Water Street is advertised for rent but they're still operating out of 62 Water Street and their manufacturing is still ongoing in Birmingham. Now, in 1869, we see the passing of another former partner, Robert Wallace, who dies at a fairly young age.
00:12:41:10 - 00:13:12:18
Now let's move to the 1870s. In 1871, the Pittsburgh Commercial newspaper reports S. McKee co have healthy revenues of $250,000 for the year. And that's similar to other glassworks in 1873. Unfortunately, we see William F McKee, a former partner and the son of Samuel McKee, pass that same year. In 1873, their total revenue is reported at $188,000.
00:13:12:21 - 00:13:49:22
In 1876, we see a strike by the window glass blowers over the wages being reduced by 10%, and this will be an ongoing battle between glass workers and the glassworks for many decades to come. That same year, unfortunately, Samuel passes and then we enter into the next generation of this company. In 1877, a new partnership was formed amongst the next generation of McKees, effectively transferring ownership from Samuel to his sons, Daniel McKee and Christian McKee, as well as a son in law, A.C. Dravo.
00:13:49:25 - 00:14:27:21
In 1877, the glass house is operating a window and bottle factory, employing about 200 people and producing about 4000 bottles and 80,000 feet of window glass every week. We also see the buildings on Water Street are being put up for rent, so they're totally vacating the offices on Water Street and transferring all their operations to Birmingham. In 1879, we see S. McKee & Co. completely operating from their Southside location and employing 300 workers.
00:14:27:24 - 00:14:57:08
We also see ongoing disputes between the glass workers and companies, including S. McKee & Co, including a strike by the gathering boys in 1879. That same year we see them tearing down their bottle works to build a window works and start to see them moving completely away from bottles and jars to focus on windows. So in moving to the 1880s, for the year 1881, the Pennsylvania government reports
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that they operated about 220 days and employed 125 workers, versus 223 days of production days in the previous year, and 109 employees. At the time that these manufacturers were operating, it wasn't unusual not to operate for the entire year with this break in the summer, just because the environment just got too hot. And in the case of disputes, if the fires were put out at the glass factory, it was a lot of effort to start the fires up again.
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And so sometimes they would just shut down the factory until their next firing.
In 1883, we see William O'Leary, a longtime business manager and traveling salesman for us, McKee and Co pass.
In 1884. We see a quote from Daniel McKee, one of the partners and son of Samuel McKee, saying that he sees no profit in bottles in future.
00:15:54:26 - 00:16:23:27
That year, we also see the works introduce gas into their production, and they report a workforce of 150. In 1885 they install a new window furnace, and in 1886, Scientific American publishes a story about the use of gas at the works. And you can see these wonderful images that were in this issue. In 1886, we see a reported revenue of $153,000.
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And the following year, revenue is about $192,000. And then in 1889, the city decides to reassess all the property in Pittsburgh and in 1872, Birmingham was actually annexed and to Pittsburgh. So it's officially part of Pittsburgh at this date and time. And it's been called the South Side. It's transitioned into its new name.
00:16:50:19 - 00:17:19:12
And so for the S, McKee and Co, when the city assessor reassess their property, it increased from $86,000, or about $87,000, in 1888 to about $123,000 in 1889. Now the tax rate there decreased. So it was somewhat of a wash for the McKees. But that didn't mean that in future years that they weren't charged more in terms of tax based on that value.
00:17:19:14 - 00:17:51:05
That same year, in 1889, we also see the beginnings of consolidation and the window with the window glass manufacturers in A.C. Dravo from S. McKee & Co. goes up to Cleveland to discuss possibly joining one of these manufacturing trusts or combines. Now we jump into the 1890s. So in 1890 we see A.C. (Clark) Dravo retiring from the firm and leaving the partnership.
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And so this now leaves Daniel McKee and Christian as the remaining partners. In 1892, we see a reported revenue of $196,000. But in 1893 we see revenue drop to a reported $103,000. And that was in part because they didn't operate for the entire year due to these labor disputes. In 1897, a labor representative showed up at McKee's doorstep demanding that the company turn over the union dues from the employees at the factory.
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And Daniel McKee didn't agree that without the consent, he should just turn them over. So the police did get involved and these labor representatives were kicked out. Although Daniel did hand over money for those workers who were willing to hand over the money. And, the labor union did request, or did order a strike, and that only eight out of the 148 men that were working at the works actually left that, are we see it reported in the newspaper that
”Mr. McKee said they had no right to retain money belonging to any of his employees without their consent.
00:19:11:18 - 00:19:38:20
He collected the assessments of the men who were willing and turned over $96 to the officers of the association. The factory closes down in June, but it doesn't start up again until January of 1898. In early 1899, more labor disputes occur and another shutdown is in store for the works. And it affects all 175 employees at the time.
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And then in December of that same year, we see production starting again with about 100 men. So now we're going to roll into the final years of this firm. So in 1901, unfortunately, a fire guts the works and it's a loss of about $150,000. And that same year, after they start, you know, rebuilding the works, unfortunately, a gust of wind brings down one of the brick walls that was under construction in 1902. The old warehouse offices at 62 and 63 Water Street, along with Andrew Hartupee’s building at 64 Water Street, are put out to bid to be demolished to make way for the Wabash train station.
00:20:23:17 - 00:20:59:17
We also see a picture here from about 1903 that shows the gap between 61 Water and 66 Water Street, where these buildings used to stand. In 1903, Christian McKee, a partner in S. McKee Co, passes at about 48. In 1904, S. McKee & Co. goes bankrupt with liabilities of $274,000 and assets of $216,000. In 1904, the works of S. McKee Co were put up for sale, which at that time carried a mortgage of $50,000 with an outstanding balance of actually $51,000.
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But some long term employees decide to invest in the firm and they reorganize, and put Daniel as the manager of the works. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out and hence decides to sell the works. In 1909, this property, the works, is sold for about $43,000 at a share sale to Edward Hartje who previously purchased a warehouse owned by Samuel McKee on Wood Street in Pittsburgh.
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In 1911, unfortunately, another fire destroys the works, which is said to have been used for storage for the past five years. In 1914, the old works on the south side are raised. In 1917 we see the Armstrong Playground opens on the old works. In 1926 we see a photo of Armstrong Park across from Turner Hall, and today we see the site as Armstrong Field.
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So I hope you enjoyed this overview of the glass works of S. McKee & Co., an early glass house for Pittsburgh. Again, you can still find many bottles, especially the Hostetters out on the marketplace, you know on online auction sites and as well as, of course, all the different bottle shows that happen throughout the country.
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So stay tuned for the next video about Samuel McKee.
