The manufacture of glass was commenced in the village of New Windsor near present day Newburgh 66 miles north of New York City sometime mid- to late in the year of 1751 by a company from New York City of which Christian Hertell, Samuel Bayard, Lodewyck or (Lodewick) Bamper and Mathias or Matthew) Earnest were partners, the first named being the resident manager. This group hired Master Gaffer, Johann Martin Greiner of Saxe-Weimar in the Palatinate region of present day Germany to design, help construct the glass works,be the master gaffer and train the new help . Mr Grenier was part of the famous (French-German) glass blowing,factory owning Greiner family who had been manufacturing glass from the early 1500s. These wealthy Dutchman gentleman were partners of a company named the Glass House Company and were based out of New York City. The following agreement recites the purchase of lots for the purpose and other matters connected with it............."
Memorandum that we, the subscribers, have this third day of January, 1751,agreed with Vincent Matthews, who acts in behalf of Samuel Bayard, in New York, for a parcel of lots lying and being at New Windsor, being part of the lands we purchased from John Alsop at New York, in the following manor,that is to say: We, the said subscribers, do agree to sell the following lots with,the prices there unto annexed, viz :
James Tuthill, lots 21 and 58, for £0 9 o o Henry Brewster to Brant Schuyler, lots 22 and 59 o 7 o o
Evan Jones, lots 22, and 56 o 7 o o John Yelverton, lot 57 o 3 o o Hezekiah Howell, lot 43 o 2 o Joseph Sackett, lot 71 3 o o
Ebenezer Seeley, lot 68 o 3 o Vincent Matthews, lot 69 o 3 o John Nelson, lot 70 o 3 o 4000
"Provided, nevertheless, that as the chief reason for selling the above lots at such a low rate and under value, is upon this account, viz : To encourage the said Samuel Bayard & Company for the building and erecting a glass-house for making of glass and potash, which the said Bayard & Company have agreed to erect upon some of the above said lots; but in case the said Bayard & Company should fail,and throw up, and not build the said works, then and in such case the above agreement to be void and the lots to remain to the above owners ; and we, the above owners and subscribers, do hereby acknowledge to have received from the above Samuel Bayard, by the hands of Vincent Matthews, the full one equal half part of the above mentioned sum of forty pounds, being half of the above purchase money, and we do promise and agree to execute, each for himself and for his heirs, good and lawful deeds to the said Samuel Bayard & Company, each for his Share or part of the above lots, upon the said Samuel Bayard's paying the rest or the other half of the above purchase money which said half is to be paid on or before the twenty-fifth day of March next ensuing the date hereof — which said deeds are to be at the proper cost and charge of the said Bayard & Company.
"In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands the day and year first above written. Signed in the presence of us, Fletcher Matthews, Thos. Jones.
"Be it remembered. That I, Christian Hertell, in company with the within Samuel Barard, Lodewick Bamper, and Mathias Earnest, did agree to the written purchase made by Vincent Mathews, with the within Proprietors of New Windsor; and do agree for myself and the rest of the company to fulfill the said' agreement; and if we fail of building the said glass-house and quit it, then and in such case to release all the said lots back again to the owners thereof upon their returning the purchase money back to me and Company again, or to any of us, as witness my hand this first day of April, 1752. "C. R. HERTELL & COMPANY.
"Signed and acknowledged and delivered in presence of us, Ebenezer Seely, Jr., Judah Harlow.' The works were conducted for a number of years — it is said until after the war of the Revolution.Based on the archaeological finds of mainly dark green glass at the original factory site the types of bottles and glassware made at these works are as follows. Case bottles the tall square in shape type with hi kick ups in the corners to help stabilize contact on all four corners. Large wine bottles with string lips made closely in the style of the German mallet type bottles. Medicine vials,with sheared tops,square utility bottles with tapered and chamfered corners. Large utility bottles in one,two, and three gallon sizes all with deep conical bases.
A little history concerning Mr Greiners roots......
The Glassworks at Munzthal in the year 1585
....Henry Heigel writes in his article the German Ballai (1600-1633) Martin Greiner and Simon Stenger had moved the glassworks from Holbach to Munzthal in 1585. In 1601 the glass-master, Martin Greiner paid 80 floren for his glas-haus and eight partners, (Siegwalt Steffel, Hensel Schurer, Ulrich Scheidhauer, Hans Shirer von Petersback, Hans Greiner, Paulus Glaser, Andres Spessart, and Henre Wincker). In 1603 there were 10 glass makers at the factory as output had increased.
In the year 1609 there were fourteen glass-makers Martin Greiner, Jean Houber , Adam and Gaspard Greiner, Nicholas Krebs, George Hoff and Sebastian Ehrlich. The widow of Martin Greiner was allowed to open up one of the huts in a different location.
The first glassworks from 1585 had depleted the forest area. It was reported that in 1613 that the glassworks from Martin Greiner was located at the end Munzthal.
His son, Jean Greiner operated the glass-house in 1614. Jean Greiner had two sons Nicolas and Leonard who worked for their father In 1625 both being the new masters of the glassworks, Nicolas and Leonard Greiner, employed 10 workers including Martin Siegwart, Adam Greiner, and Andres Stenger.
.....The old widow Greiner planned to give up the lease for the hut because of lack of wood. There were still 11 workers employed in 1629 including Koch, Steffel, Contz, Andres, Sttenger, Sigeart, Adam Greiner, Jean Schwan.
As you can see now it is obvious why the Glass House Company sought the expert advice from Johan Martin Greiner one of the most famous glass makers from Germany at the time. The Greiner family had been manufacturing glass in Germany for 150 years prior to his arrival in New York City in 1750. Johan would go on to be hired by Wilhem Henry Stiegel who used martin to design all three of his glass works built over a 10 year period at Elizabeth and Manheim Pennsylvania.
The Glass works was still in operation at New Windsor for as the ad below from December 28th 1758 edition of the New York Mercury states........
Or the property being sold near the glass works mentions in this ad from the April 2nd 1759 edition of the New York Mercury......
But the end of the glass works was soon to be for a little over a month later as listed here in the ad below mixed into a long list of regional stories , The Glass House at New Windsor on the 24 of May was burnt to the ground. The Monday, May 28, 1759 edition of the New York Mercury.
The glass houses demise was mainly due to the disasterous fire however as is the case with most other glass factories which had been established before and after the forest being depleted was another main factor in a glass factorys iability to survive. The North River as it was known in Colonial times now the Hudson river was an excellent means of navigation to and from the city of New York . Plans were already in the works before the fire to build a new factory much closer to Manhattan ( New Amsterdam)( New York) by this same group of men.
The bottle below is very typical of the type manufactured at these works.
Case type bottle, Tall at 14 inches, olive amber in color large deep blow pipe type pontil mark 1750 to 1770
Corner view of the same bottle.
In close on the shoulders and the lip,pretty colored bottle lots of small bubbles
Lip in tight,slightly slanted and reversed rolled in make up .
Concave base,deep blow pipe pontil mark with a large chunk of glass extending downward from the perimeter of the pontil mark.
View from the north...
My back yard seen through two hundred and 75 year old sun-glasses!!
Looking through 275 year old sun glasses into my back yard at the neighbors huge Victorian home!!
Glass bubble that burst and re-sealed itself in the annealing process.
On the side of the bottle below the shoulder line is a huge bubble which burst and resealed itself in the making.I have never seen this before on glass.
On January 5th 1969 The Evening News Newspaper of Newburgh New York had the following headline in its newspaper. The site of the old glass factory had been relocated.