Fostoria, Ohio was chosen because
natural gas at a recently opened field in the area had been
offered at a very low cost to attract new industries.
However, the field was so short-lived that in 1891, Fostoria
moved to Moundsville, West Virginia, where there was an
abundance of gas, coal, and the other needed materials
close by.
During its first ten years, Fostoria made pressed ware, but
early in the century Fostoria realized the importance of
developing fine quality blown stemware, lamps, and other
decorative accessory pieces.
In 1924 the company was one of the first to start a
program of national advertising, and the first to produce
complete dinner services in crystal. Besides their regular
line of blown, etched and pressed patterns they did custom
work, such as providing glass with government seals for
officials in Washington. All the presidents from
Eisenhower through Reagan ordered glassware from them.
At one time Fostoria was the largest maker of handmade
glassware in the United States, employing nearly one
thousand people. The American pattern, introduced in
1915, was made by Lancaster Colony (who bought the
Fostoria Company in 1983) until they closed in 1986.
American was the most successful pattern
in the history of glassmaking.
Fostoria´s business peaked in 1950 when they made over 8
million pieces of glass.
In 1986 after struggling with an outmoded plant and
foreign competition, Lancaster Colony was forced to close
the Fostoria factory, ending nearly 100 years of glass making. | 
