United States Glass Co.

The United States Glass Company was organized on July 1, 1891. It was a merger of eighteen glass factories, all of which were operating at near capacity at the time. This merger allowed the various factory owners to form a solid front against the labor unions, which had become increasingly strong at that time, as well as to give them a competitive edge against any non-member glass company. Although the various member companies retained their individual names locally, officially they were designated by a letter only, such as Factory A through T. The company operated very successfully throughout the 1890s and well into the twentieth century.

Late in the 1890s the U.S. Glass Company came up the with idea of marketing a series of glass patterns named for the various American states. While many of these patterns were new to this series, others were reissues of earlier lines of the individual companies, reintroduced as part of this line. Primarily between 1899 and 1903 there were 35 state patterns issued. Around 1905 the Company issued a line it called The States, one pattern to honor all the American states.