Canada's First Glassworks

Canada's First Glassworks (HM2M1B)

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N 44° 28.821', W 75° 52.533'

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Inscription

1839

 
At only 20 years old, Amasa Whitney Mallory brashly started up Canada's first glassworks in a log structure about 2 km. west of Mallorytown. He had already successfully harvested lumber in the area for 2 years but was destined to achieve much more in his lifetime. A newspaper of 1879 described him as "a gentleman of great enterprise, ready at all times to embark in any speculation in which his shrewd intelligence discerns a profit". In fact he went on to run a general store, a harness & shoe shop, a black smithy, a farm, and a prize-winning cheese factory. And, while doing all that, he was continuously trading in livestock and real estate. 15 children knew him as a kind parent while the community knew him as a capable town councilor, roads master, school trustee, and Reeve.
The glass factory consumed local Potsdam sandstone, potash, and limestone as well as timber to fuel the furnaces. In the short time the factory was in operation window glass was never produced. However plates, bowls, jugs, pitchers, jars, and bottles fed the settlers' strong demand. Even some artful whimsy was created by the glass blowers in their



free time. The factory closed in 1840 due to "the unreliableness of the foreman" who had likely come from the nearby Redwood Glass Factory in New York. Virtually nothing remains today of the factory. However, the extremely rare remaining pieces of glassware are priceless.

[Image captions, clockwise from top left, read]
· Mallorytown glass jug
· Detail of jug showing the characteristic bubbles in the glass
· Glassmaker's whimsey fork with one tine broken, 66 cm
· Cullet (waste glass)
· The Mallorytown Pitcher
· Dross (waste glass)
· A "gather" of glass being melted in the furnace (glory hole)
· Amasa Whitney Mallory (1819-1906)
· Gerald Stevens' 1953 sketch of what the factory likely resembled
Details
HM NumberHM2M1B
Tags
Year Placed2012
Placed ByMallory Coach House Heritage Committee
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Sunday, October 20th, 2019 at 11:01pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18T E 430372 N 4925599
Decimal Degrees44.48035000, -75.87555000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 44° 28.821', W 75° 52.533'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds44° 28' 49.26" N, 75° 52' 31.98" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling North
Closest Postal AddressAt or near , ,
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