The Root Glass Company The Root Glass Company The Root Glass Company originated as Root Glass Works in Vigo County, Indiana. Businessman and Pennsylvania native Chapman J. Root (November 22, 1864 - November 20, 1945) opened the original glass company on May 27, 1901, at Third and Voorhees Streets a year after he moved to the city of Terre Haute, Indiana. By 1904 the company was manufacturing beverage bottles for Coca-Cola as well as several other beverage companies in the area. Between 1905 and 1912 the Root Glass Company workforce increased from 600 to 825 employees. In 1915, Root's company entered a Coca-Cola contest
Blenko Glass Company Blenko Glass Company Blenko Glass Company, located in Milton, West Virginia, is known for its artistic hand-blown glass. William J. Blenko was born in London, England in 1853. He worked at a glass factory in his youth. In 1893, he emigrated to Kokomo, Indiana, in the US, where he established the first American factory to produce sheet glass for stained glass windows. In 1903, he was forced to close his factory and return to England, due to an economic downturn. His second business venture was in 1909, in Point Marion, Pennsylvania. This endeavor quickly failed, as did a third, in