In order to know about CAMBRIDGE GLASS PATTERNS, you will have to go through the history of Cambridge Glass Company.
In 1873, a group of business owners from Cambridge decided to start a factory, Cambridge Glass Company, to produce new glassware. But they could not establish it and sold its plans to a Pennsylvanian glass company, the National Glass Company. In 1902 they started this factory.
This factory was managed by an English person, Arthur J. Bennett. The glassware designed in this company mainly from 1902 to 1906 had patterns made by heavy pressing, designed by Arthur. This company became famous for its CAMBRIDGE GLASS PATTERNS. Bennett purchased this factory in 1907 by investing the savings of his lifetime.
By 1910, Cambridge Glass became a large company and started mining coal itself for its consumption as it needs coal over 50 tons every day to fuel its furnaces. This factory not only had coal-fuelled furnaces but also natural gas-fuelled furnaces. The company also has its wells to produce natural gas. Cambridge Glass Company also purchased another glass company, Byesville Glass and Lamp Co in 1910. All through this time they also released patterns of Betty and Marjorie. Bennett named these patterns after the names of the family members of Bennett.
The sales of this glass company reached the level of stability in 1916. In 1917 they decided to close the operations of Byesville and move the plant to Cambridge. Then it was decided by Bennett to work carefully to grow gradually. The company could to face the Great Depression successfully by avoiding to expand it rapidly.
Considerable growth was observed in the Cambridge glass company from the 1920s to 1940s. Throughout this period they also released their most successful CAMBRIDGE GLASS PATTERNS and etchings in different sizes, colors, and shapes. The most successful etching osepoint’ and a popular collection of ude Stem’ were released by the company in 1931. During this time company has also developed a range of most popular colors including Crown Tuscan, Carmen, Heatherbloom, and Royal Blue.
The sales of the Cambridge Glass Company started declining just after the end of WWII. The demand for fine crystals dropped due to an increase in the demand for imported cheaply made crystal items. It was decided to close the Cambridge glass company in 1954. In 1955 it was sold to Sidney Albert from Akron, OH, who got rid of it by selling it to Boston’s Morrison Industries, after a year due to poor sales. The Cambridge glass company was finally closed in 1958 and all of its equipment and molds were purchased by Imperial Glass.
The market in America remained packed with imported machine-made glassware for the next few decades. It compelled Imperial Glass to declare bankruptcy in 1984. Then the molds of glass patterns were bought by the association of the National Cambridge Collectors in 1989 and stored in the Museum in Cambridge, OH.
Thus the factory of Cambridge Glass came to its end and all of its buildings were razed. Today various types of CAMBRIDGE GLASS PATTERNS are highly considered as collectibles and are owned by Replacements.