In the last half of the 1800s glassmaking wasn't a big industry in the U.S. because fuel was hard to find, as was experienced glassmakers. Most glass was imported from England or made in the U.S. by J.H. Hobbs and Brockunier. With little competition, by the end of the 1870s, J.H. Hobbs had become the largest glassmaker in the U.S.

In the 1860s technological advancements were made in glass composition, along with improvements in the development of furnaces, molds and presses. In 1886 a major discovery of low cost, natural gas was made in Ohio, which opened the door for the establishment of dozens of new glass companies.

Between 1886 and 1900 over 70 glass companies operated in Ohio, with their Presidents and or Plant Managers manned mostly by ex-employees of J.H. Hobbs. This included the founders of Fostoria, Lucian B. Martin, William S. Brady, James B. Russell, Benjamin M. Hildreth, Otto Jaeger, Henry Crimmel & Jacob Crimmel, all former Hobbs employees .

Fostoria opened on December 15th 1887, in Fostoria Ohio. Land, with abundant natural gas, was donated by the townspeople to a group of experienced glassmakers from West Virginia. But in 1891, when the fuel resource played out, they ere forced to move and went to moved to Moundsville, West Virginia. There, they had an abundance of gas and coal to sustain their operations, but a cash incentive and a low fuel price offer from that town sealed the deal.

Fostoria Glass was promoted as "The Crystal of America", because they adapted to the times and the needs of the consumers. This marketing philosophy enabled Fostoria to survive the decades and ups and downs of a vibrant to struggling economy. Fostoria become the leader in the industry and was soon imitated by most of their competition.

Fostoria specialized in Oil Lamps, Stem Ware and Tumblers for Restaurants and Bars. But, by 1906, Fostoria also specialized in Decorated Lamps, Globes, Shades, Blown and Pressed Tableware, and Novelties. One of the leading Trade Magazines wrote that Fostoria “makes so many lines of glassware, all so perfectly, and markets its output so successfully to all classes of buyers, that no name is better known to all classes of trade.” .

During the recession years prior to the 20s, Fostoria was one of the top producers of Depression Glass. Depression glass was often used as prizes at carnivals and as gifts to the patrons of businesses.

In the beginning, Fostoria specialized in pressed glass, but, they soon realized that there was a significant market for quality blown stemware. This proved out as their most sought after products became their Elegant Line of High End Hand crafted Stemware and Dinnerware. Unlike their standard ware this line was handblown with a fire polished finish that removed the roughness of mold lines on the surface.

In 1924, Fostoria was among the first to use a National Advertising Campaign and had created over 1000 patterns of glass and a catalog of over 10,000 items. By 1928, Fostoria was recognized as the largest manufacturer of handmade glass in the U.S. They established sample rooms in New York, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco. At their peak in 1950, Fostoria was the largest maker of handmade glassware in the U.S., employing over 1000 people.

Fostoria introduced the "American Pattern" in 1915 which is still being crafted today by Lancaster Colony, who bought the Fostoria Company in 1983. All of our Presidents from Eisenhower to Reagan had ordered place settings from Fostoria.

In 1986 Fostoria was struggling with outdated equipment and growing foreign competition. After 100 years in business, Lancaster Colony opted to close the doors of this Great American Company.

Fostoria was focused on Quality and Innovation. They took great pride in their proprietary glass formulas, vast catalog of styles and array of vibrant colors.

Among the many glass formulas they crafted, one Fostoria Glass formula included phosphorus impurities that produce a faint yellow iridescent glow when using black UV light in a darkened room. Uranium Glass, or Vaseline Glass uses Uranium to create the iridescent glow in their glass.

Before Christmas of 1888 the company introduced the Virginia Pattern and soon after it was pirated by one of their rivals. Fostoria renamed the pattern "Capitan Kidd" to humorously mock that act of piracy. Some time later they renamed it Foster and Foster Block to honor Charles Foster. An ad for the Captain Kidd Pattern featured a sugar bowl, a butter dish, a creamer and a spoon dish.

Charles E Beam, who ran the company's mold shop was later added to the Board of Directors. He designed dishes with animals as the covers and his most coveted design, by collectors, is the rare dolphin cover. Beam also patented the technique for his glass mold that made small holes in chandeliers and candelabras pieces.

Fostoria's first piece of glass pressed at their Ohio Plant was a salt dip in the pattern number 93 style. Their Valencia Pattern, number 205, known as the Artichoke Pattern, easily identified by the overlapping leaves at the bottom half of the glassware. The Magazine "China, Glass and Lamps" ran an ad for this pattern in Early 1891.

Fostoria was the groundbreaker once again in 1924. They were the FIRST Glass Company to manufacture complete dinnerware sets in crystal. A year later in 1925 they broke ground again by manufacturing dinnerware sets in colors, In 1926 they began their advertising campaign promoting complete dinnerware sets. Two of the most popular of these were the clear and pastel sets.

This led to Fostoria's contribution to the creation of the bridal registry. They also catered to the market for low cost dinnerware sets with automated manufacturing. They would inject molten glass into pressed molds, however, it often created minor flaws in the finished product. They designed lacy patterns in the molds to distract from the imperfections in the process.

In 1958 they released the Jamestown Pattern for tableware and stemware using crystal glass. Their breakthrough was to manufacture it with a choice of 7 colors of glass, amber, amethyst, blue, green, pink, brown and ruby. Ruby has since become the most coveted by collectors and the highest in value.

They also came out with a milk glass pattern called Vintage, used for tableware and stemware.

Of the over 1000 patterns they developed only one was patented, the Victoria Pattern. It's among the most popular with collectors and has a striking resemblance to a French Companies pattern. Fostoria did employ some ex-employees from the French Glass Industry. The production of this pattern ended for good when the molds never arrived at their new plant in Moundsville. Hummm!