Jeannette Glass plant had a glimmer of hope in 1983

(Editor’s note: “From the archive” is a recurring series highlighting vintage photos submitted by community members or gathered from the Tribune-Review’s files. If you have a photo you would like to see featured here, please contact gtrcity@triblive.com.)

It seemed as though the Jeannette Glass plant might restart four decades ago, according to a Tribune-Review story published Oct. 7, 1983.

At a news conference held at the idled factory the day prior, new owners told reporters the effort was contingent upon the availability of funding — an estimated $8 million was needed to restart operations, or $24.8 million in today’s dollars. The eventual course of history shows that never happened.

But on that day, there was reason for hope for the workers who had been out of jobs since August 1982. Those in attendance at the news conference were given a tour of the idled plant on Bullitt Avenue. Photos taken by the Tribune-Review did not appear alongside the article in the Oct. 7, 1982, edition, but are being published here now.

They show Jeannette Glass in the end of its life, with dirty, dusty glass waiting to be packaged or sitting on an idle conveyor belt. The article described a state of disarray — lockers stood open with work shirts hanging on doors and tools had been lying in the same place for the past year.

Jeannette Glass was once a bustling plant that employed as many as 1,000 in the heart of the city’s downtown. Jeannette earned the nickname “Glass City” because of its storied history in glass making.

Jeannette Glass was known briefly as Jeannette Bottle Works when it opened in 1887, but became Jeannette Glass Co. a year later. It was renamed Jeannette Corp. in 1970.

During its time in operation, Jeannette Glass produced a variety of items, from bottles and dishware to Depression and milk glass, according to “History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.”

Some of those items have been preserved by the Jeannette Area Historical Society but there are plenty available for purchase from online collectors. As of October 1983, the plant contained an estimated $2 million in undecorated inventory, according to Tribune-Review archives.

In the decades after these Tribune-Review photos were taken, the once-busy production facility turned into a hulking problem — the plant was abandoned and left to decay after it never reopened as new owners had hoped in 1983.

In 2012, it was purchased for $305,000 by the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. at at a tax sale. The county prevailed in years of court challenges by the owner that followed, which stymied plans to clean up and redevelop the site.

After the state Supreme Court upheld the sale, the parties reached a settlement in mid-2016 that allowed the county to take over. The remnants of glass production, decrepit buildings and asbestos contamination were cleaned up and the property was sold to Elliott Group for $600,000 in October 2019, the year after the cleanup project was completed.

Elliott broke ground in December 2019 for a $60 million cryogenic pump test stand and the existing facility was complete in late 2021.