Indiana Glass Company was an American company that manufactured pressed, blown and hand-molded glassware and tableware for almost 100 years. Predecessors to the company began operations in Dunkirk, Indiana, in 1896 and 1904, when East Central Indiana experienced the Indiana gas boom. The company started in 1907, when a group of investors led by Frank W. Merry formed a company to buy the Dunkirk glass plant that belonged to the bankrupt National Glass Company. National Glass was a trust for glass tableware that originally owned 19 glass factories including the plant in Dunkirk. National Glass went bankrupt in 1907, and its assets were sold in late 1908.

Indiana Glass Company mostly made tableware, lamps, and vases although it had additional products. Collectors consider the company a manufacturer of Depression glass, Goofus glass, and Carnival glass. One well known customer was the A&W drive-in chain that featured mugs of A&W Root Beer, and Indiana Glass was the original manufacturer of root beer mugs for that company. Another major customer was Kmart.

During 1957, Lancaster Lens Company acquired a controlling interest in Indiana Glass. Lancaster Lens Company was renamed Lancaster Glass Company, but Indiana Glass continued to be a separate entity. By the 1960s, a reorganization had Indiana Glass Company as a subsidiary of Lancaster Colony Corporation. Indiana Glass had a resurgence in sales during the 1970s, and began marketing some of its tableware for the home through Lancaster Colony's Tiara Exclusives. Indiana Glass continued operating in Dunkirk until November 2002, when the plant was closed. Although a glass plant owned by Lancaster Colony continued operating in Oklahoma under the name Indiana Glass Company, that plant was part of a sale to another glass company in late 2007.

During the late 1880s, the discovery of natural gas started an economic boom period in East Central Indiana. Gas was first found in Delaware County's town of Eaton and adjacent Jay County's city of Portland^[1][2] Manufacturers were lured to the region to take advantage of the low cost fuel. Jay County, a rural county in East Central Indiana, had only 210 people working in manufacturing in 1880.^[3] By 1900, the county had over 1,423 people employed at manufacturing plants that were mostly glass factories.^{[Note 1]} East Central Indiana became the state's major manufacturing center.^[6]

Sources do not always agree on the start date for Dunkirk's Indiana Glass Company. An unrelated Indiana Glass Company existed from 1892 to 1896 in Indiana, Pennsylvania.^[21] An Indiana Glass Works was inspected in Dunkirk in 1901, but its product was listed as bottles—and the Beatty-Brady Glass Company, a maker of tableware, was also inspected.^[22] At the beginning of 1903, Frank W. Merry was sent by National Glass Company to Dunkirk to run the Beatty-Brady plant. Merry "helped promote the organization of the Indiana Glass Company" in Dunkirk in 1904, and he was elected president of the company.^[23] The new company was announced in January 1904 when Merry leased the Dunkirk glass works owned by the National Glass Company.^[18] The Indiana Department of Inspection listed Indiana Glass Company as having 256 employees in 1904, and its products were "pressed and blown glass". There was no Beatty-Brady Glass Company or Indiana Glass Works listed.^[24] However, 1904 is not considered the start date for Indiana Glass, as most sources list 1907 as the start date for the company.^{[25][Note 3]}

In 1907, National Glass Company defaulted on the interest payments for its bonds, and a bank brought suit for the foreclosure of mortgages that were used as security. National Glass went into receivership during December 1907.^[29] During the year, Frank Merry and associates formed a company to buy the Dunkirk glass plant. The assets of National Glass were sold at auction during November 1908.^[30] The purchase of the Dunkirk plant was final in 1909, and Frank Merry continued as president.^{[Note 4]} The major stockholders were Frank Merry, Henry J. Batsch, Harold H. Phillips, Charles W. Smalley, Rathburn Fuller, and James E. Merry.^[9] Management from this time until 1915 included James Merry as vice president, Phillips as secretary and treasurer, and Batsch as factory manager.^[31] In 1915, Smalley replaced James Merry as vice president. In 1916, Charles L. Gaunt replaced Phillips as secretary and treasurer.^[31] The board of directors as of 1921 consisted of Frank Merry, Smalley, Gaunt, Batsch, and Fuller.^[32]

Natural gas was the original fuel used by glass factories in the Dunkirk area to heat their furnaces. However, this fuel, which is desirable for glassmaking because it can heat evenly, became depleted in the region by 1905. Indiana Glass used coal from West Virginia and Kentucky to make coal gas to use as their fuel for glassmaking. Dunkirk has a railroad line that crosses the town providing a transportation resource for coal and raw materials. Sand from Illinois, soda ash from Detroit mills, and lime from northern Ohio were major raw materials brought to Dunkirk for glass making.^[33]

A trade magazine noted in 1916 that Indiana Glass had started "tank No. 3, which places this plant to operating at capacity."^[34] In March, a Daubenspeck automatic tumbler machine was placed on tank number 3.^[35] This machine would take precise amounts of molten glass and feed it into the molds for products such as tumblers. It could produce products at a faster rate, and the product would have consistent dimensions.^{[36][Note 5]} Later in the year, it also noted that the company was again operating at full capacity and had many large orders for tumblers and table ware.^[39]

By the early 1920s, the plant employed about 550 people when operating at capacity, and could produce three carloads per day of glass products.^[40] The company was described in 1921 as a producer of "pressed table glassware and lamps", and "cold color and fixed decorated glassware".^[41] It had sample rooms for its products in major cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, St. Paul, and San Francisco.^[42] A customer of the company's barware products that became well known was the chain of A&W Root Beer stands. Indiana Glass was a long time producer of glass mugs used to serve A&W Root Beer.^[43] The company's tableware was pressed in molds in machines, while vases and lamps were produced by glassblowers.^[40] In 1931, Frank Merry died and Charles L. Gaunt became company president.^[44]

At the start of World War II, glass plants began making less glassware for the home and more for warfare such as lenses for aircraft, trucks, and naval vessels. Tableware production resumed in the 1950s, but demand was down.^[45] In 1953, Indiana Glass president Charles L. Gaunt announced that his company acquired a controlling interest in the Sneath Glass Company, which had been closed by a strike. The acquisition enabled the company to use Sneath's recipe for heat resistant glass—bolstering their large assortment of glassware products. At the time, Indiana Glass was a leader in barware, stemware, decorative crystal tableware, and novelties.^[27]

Indiana Glass Company had many glass patterns, and was a manufacturer of what collectors call Depression Glass.^[28] The company was also a manufacturer of what collectors call Goofus glass, which was cheaply made glass with painted decorations. A third category of glassware associated with the company, also very low cost, is called Carnival glass.^[55] The company also made barware. In 1919, Indiana Glass began making a 10 ounce beer mug. This mug was used by A&W for root beer at its A&W Root Beer stands. In the early 1920s, Indiana Glass introduced a child-sized mug that held 3.5 ounces and was used by A&W for children.^[43]

Some of the more well-known Depression Glass patterns are Avocado, Indiana Custard, Pyramid, Sandwich, and Tea Room. Avocado is the name used by collectors for the Indiana Glass pattern number 601.^[56] It was originally made from 1923 to 1933 in crystal, green, and pink. The pattern is sometimes called Sweet Pear because the "avocado" design actually looks more like a pear.^[57] The pattern was revived, using 15 new colors plus pink and green, for the company's products sold through Tiara Exclusives in the 1970s through 1990s.^{[58][Note 7]}

Indiana Custard is the collector name for Flower and Leaf Band ware that was made from the 1930s to the 1950s. The pattern was used for coffee sets (bowl, cup and saucer, platter, sugar, creamer) using an opaque glass of custard color with decorated bands. A milk glass version was called Orange Blossom.^[60]

Pyramid is a pattern name used by collectors for the Indiana Glass pattern number 610. This pattern was made from 1926 to 1932. In 1974 and 1975, reproductions were made using black and blue glass that had not been used earlier for this pattern.^[61] The black or blue reproductions were made for Tiara Exclusives and used in homes.^[62] The original Pyramid products were intended for commercial use, but were also used in homes. This pattern had angular designs considered avant-garde during the late 1920s, while most pressed glass from that time featured floral patterns.^[63]

The Sandwich pattern, Indiana Glass version, was made from the 1920s through the 1980s. (Anchor Hocking also had a Sandwich pattern.) For certain colors, the color of the glass for this pattern can be used to approximate the decade the glass was made.^[64] Tiara Exclusives was selling the Sandwich pattern in 1980.^[65]

Tea Room is another pattern intended for commercial use, but also used in homes. Like Pyramid, it had an angular design considered avant-garde for the late 1920s.^[63] The pattern was marketed for use in tea rooms, ice cream parlors, and soda fountains.^[66] Tea Room was made only from 1926 to 1931. However, its art deco appearance has made it popular with collectors. The Tea Room dinner sets were made in crystal, amber, green, and pink glass.^[67]

In 1957, the Lancaster Lens Corporation acquired a controlling interest in Indiana Glass. Robert K. Fox, president of Lancaster Lens, became president of both companies. George M. Morton, Vice President of Indiana Glass, became Vice President of both companies.^[68] A month later Lancaster Lens changed its name to Lancaster Glass Corporation. The new name was said to "give a more accurate definition" of the company's manufacturing activities.^[69] Lancaster Colony Corporation was organized in Delaware in 1961 as a holding company.^[70] By 1963, Lancaster Colony subsidiaries included four non-glass companies plus Indiana Glass, Lancaster Glass, and Bischoff Glass Company.^[71]