Shades of Glass

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.