There were days when the heat would singe Leslie Kurtz’s hands if he didn’t back away fast enough from the furnace at the Lenox Crystal plant in Mount Pleasant.
Mr. Kurtz was a gatherer, the person who pulled molten glass from the 2,200-degree Fahrenheit furnace onto blowpipes for the glass blowers. Gathering was an entry-level position at the Westmoreland County plant, but soon he had worked his way to glass blower and then production manager, the position he held at the time of his retirement more than three decades later.
A Connellsville native and graduate of Connellsville Area High School, Mr. Kurtz was working at Seven Springs Mountain Resort when he got a call from Lenox to come in for an interview. Told to appear at 2 p.m. or be replaced by the next applicant, he said he made an excuse and left for the interview. That was in January 1972, barely eight months after his high school graduation.
Mr. Kurtz attributes his advancement at the factory to being a quick learner and to skills developed on the court during the three years he played high school basketball. “When you’re blowing glass, hand and eye coordination are important.” Several persons with various skills often worked together to make one glass object. “Timing and temperature control are very critical,” Mr. Kurtz said.
“You’re working in tandem like a ballet. Everything has to be on time. It was an art, no doubt about it. And everyone was very good at what he did.”
Mr. Kurtz, 62, retired in 2002 when the factory closed and lives in Scottdale with his wife, Denise.
He was the first in his family to work in a glass plant, but he said many other residents of the nearby town of Mount Pleasant and surrounding towns had fathers and grandfathers who had worked in the three local glass plants, all now closed.
One of those was Mount Pleasant resident Allen Leighliter, whose family collection of lead crystal Christmas bells was the inspiration for the current exhibition, “Bells, Bells, Bells: A Lenox Holiday,” at the Mount Pleasant Glass Museum.
“It didn’t matter which factory you worked for, when the Lenox bell came out each Christmas, folks around Mount Pleasant usually bought one,” said Cassandra Vivian.
The Mount Pleasant Glass Museum was founded by Ms. Vivian, an author and Mount Pleasant resident, who is museum president and also “runs the day-to-day operations until we find someone to replace me.” It opened in the former Lenox Crystal plant in 2013.
The museum mission includes developing a collection, researching and preserving the regional history of glass and presenting educational programs.
Most of all, Ms. Vivian wants to record the stories of the glassmakers.
“This is the story of the people who worked in the factories. This is their story. This is not the Lenox story. This is not the Smith story.”
In addition to Lenox, Bryce Brothers and L.E. Smith Glass Co. also once operated in Mount Pleasant.
Bryce, which specialized in fine hand-blown crystal, originated in Pittsburgh and re-established in Mount Pleasant in 1896. In 1965, the company was acquired by Lenox, which continued many Bryce patterns. L.E. Smith opened in 1907 specializing in pressed glass. In the 1970s it was sold to entrepreneurial interests and “began its demise in the 1980s,” Ms. Vivian said. The factory closed in 2005.
The evolution of the “Bells” exhibition exemplifies the museum mission.
“It’s a learning exhibition,” Ms. Vivian said. “We’re learning as we go.”
The Leighliter collection included the expected pieces from the annual Lenox Christmas collectible series, but in two sizes. When she learned of the planned exhibition, Mount Pleasant resident Melinda Henkel brought Christmas bells with looped glass handles that differ from the sculptural sandblasted handles of the commercial collectible series. They were made by her husband, Earl “Butch” Henkel, in the Lenox handle shop.
The museum believes Lenox issued the first bell in the series in 1986 and continued producing them annually until 2009. Staff would like to have those dates confirmed and, if 2009 is correct, to learn where the bells were made after the Mount Pleasant factory closed in 2002. It was believed to be the last Lenox crystal plant in the United States.
They’re also interested in displaying the brochures that came with each bell, and in learning whether they were designed by Lenox employees or area artists. The museum invites persons interested in donating or consigning bells to call 724-547-5929. Objects will be added throughout the exhibition, which continues until Jan. 16.
Before steel, glass was the major industry in Pittsburgh with more than 100 factories in the region in 1902. By the 1920s this area was producing 80 percent of the glass in the United States, and was supplying foreign markets as well, said Anne Madarasz, vice president of museum exhibits and collections at the Heinz History Center. She curated the center’s “Glass: Shattering Notions” exhibition and authored the accompanying book.
“It was of huge importance. Pittsburgh was the center of the marketplace for consumer glass and china. [Reflecting Pittsburgh’s significance] the glass trade show was held here from the 1880s to at least 1959,” said Ms. Madarasz.
The era of glass is “a legacy that people can be proud of,” Ms. Madarasz said. “It’s a legacy that is written across the region if not across the world. Our region is known for making things. We should appreciate that story and the connection it has to today.”
The museum is at 402 E. Main St., Suite 600, Mount Pleasant. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is free. Memberships range from $15 to $50. Information: 724-547-5929.
M. Thomas: mthomas@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1925.
First Published: December 13, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
