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1900's Berney-Bond
Glass Co.
photo credit: John Coleman Collection |
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1900's Berney-Bond
Glass Co.
photo credit: John Coleman Collection |
In 1900 the Berney Glass Company had been formed in Bradford to make glass and glassware in the Bradford Flint Glass Bottle Co. plant which they had acquired. They made a green glass at that plant with which they made bottles, flasks, etc. In 1902 the Bond Glass Company was formed in Hazel Hurst to make bottles etc. Bond Glass Company stockholders came from Bradford, Hazel Hurst, Union City and St. Marys which included A.J. Bond, M.J. Healy and C.E. Hazelton. It was a rather small company at first with $30,000.00 worth of stock. The Bond Company plant was built in Hazel Hurst about midway between the Keystone Glass Company and the Hazel Hurst Window Glass Company plants and on the west side of town. Right behind the factories is Belgian Town, named after the Belgians that lived there. They came to Hazel Hurst to use their glass blowing skills in the factories.
After a few years the Berney Glass Company of Bradford and the Bond Glass Company of Hazel Hurst merged and formed the Berney Bond Glass Bottle Co. which later grew into quite a large operation with plants in Hazel Hurst, Bradford, and Smethport in McKean County and in Knox, Clarion and other locations outside the county.
Berney Bond operated in Hazel Hurst until 1929, which was probably about the end of that company's existence. During 1928 and 1929, the Pierce Glass Company of Port Allegany leased the Hazel Hurst plant and operated it using lunch machines to blow the bottles. Shipping was done on the Shawmut and in trucks between Hazel Hurst and Port Allegany. Several Port Allegany people remember the leasing of the Hazel Hurst plant and Mr. Louis Reosler of Mt. Jewett also remembers it since he was the shipping clerk in Hazel Hurst. Herbert Huggler from the Port Allegsny Pierce office has a very good recollection of the events and the late George Hoffower was the truck driver who traveled between the two places. His son tells about the time when Mr. Hoffower had taken his wife along for the ride one day. In Hazel Hurst they found out that some bricks for a repair were needed from Kushequa. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffower drove to Kushequa in the truck; the bricks were loaded and they started back. Part way toward Hazel Hurst the truck broke down and they were stranded until late that night before help got to them. With the end of the Pierce lease, the Hazel Hurst plant was shut down and demolished, ending the glass business in Hazel Hurst.
1-1-1901 (Bond Bottle Co.) - Date of Incorporation
(PA state record)
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