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FENTON GLASS CLOSING AFTER 102 YEARS |
| (08/10/2007) |
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Fenton Glass of Williamstown, West Virginia is closing after 102 years. "The most difficult thing is the effect that it is going to have on the people who work here," said a Fenton family member about making the decision to close. Fenton said there are a lot of talented people who will be losing their jobs, 150 in all, when the company closes. The company developed a financial restructuring plan in June to combat the amount of debt it was in because of a reduction in sales. Fenton says those efforts were not successful. "This has been my life and my father's life and my family's life," Fenton said. "So it feels like losing a very close member of the family, and all of the emotions that go along with that are the same emotions I'm feeling today." Fenton says a number of things have contributed to the loss of profits including competition from less expensive imports, the increase in the cost of natural gas and rising health care costs for workers. Fenton Art Glass Company is the largest manufacturer of handmade colored glass in the United States. The Fenton Art Glass Company was founded in 1905 by Frank L. Fenton and his brother John W. Fenton in an old glass factory building in Martins Ferry, Ohio. They began by painting decorations on glass blanks made by other glass manufacturers. Soon, being unable to get the glass they needed, they decided to produce their own glass. The first glass from the new Fenton factory in Williamstown, West Virginia, was made on January 2, 1907.
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