Building History

The Pacific Glass Company originally built its glass-making furnace in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, but individuals here objected to the smoke, heat and fire hazards it posed for them, forcing a move. As a result of this pressure, the company's owners erected another factory during 1862 and began operations by 06/16/1863, with a plant on a 10-acre tract at Iowa and Mariposa Streets, in what became known by 1887 as the "College Hill District." (Much later, it became known as the Dogpatch neighborhood.) As noted by Bill Lockhart, Beau Schriever, Bill Lindsey and Carol Serr in their article, "Pacific Glass Works:" "The Pacific Glass Works was incorporated on October 2, 1862, with a capital of $50,000. Robert Turner, John Taylor, Caleb S. Hobbs, George W. Post, C. Mitchell, H.D. Hudson, R.K. Pattridge, Francis Cutting, and G.S. Garwood were the original incorporators. Hobbs was the initial president with Taylor as vice president, John Archibald as secretary and treasurer, plus Joseph S. Garwood and H.G. Hudson as additional trustees along with G.W. Post as superintendent." During 1863, the Pacific Glass Company maintained a single furnace and two pots for pouring molten glass. Between 1863 and 1876, the Pacific Glass Company had various owners and managers.

A VA-born glass blower by the name of Carlton Newman (1829-1889) had lived in the glass-making center of Pittsburgh, PA, in 1857 (where his daughter Mary had been born) and continued to reside there working in the glass industry, as per the 1860 US Census. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Birmingham, Alleghany, Pennsylvania; Roll: M653_1065; Page: 113; Family History Library Film: 805065, accessed 12/13/2024 and Ancestry.com, Source Citation National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925; Roll #: 419; Volume #: Roll 0419 - Certificates: 70301-70600, 24 Oct 1917-29 Oct 1917, accessed 12/13/2024.) He worked as a glassblower for the Pacific Glass Works by c. 1864, but left it to start his own glass-making enterprise, the San Francisco Glass Works. He and his business partner Patrick Brennan, in 1867, operated the San Francisco Glass Works on the south side of Townsend Street between 3rd and 4th Streets. (See San Francisco Directory, 1867, p. 369.) By 1876, Newman returned to buy the Pacific Glass Company and merge it with his own, to form the "San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works" on 05/19/1876. (See Bill Lockhart, Beau Schriever, Bill Lindsey and Carol Serr, Society for Historical Archaeology.org, "Pacific Glass Works," published c. 10/08/2018, accessed 12/13/2024.)

In 1900, the Crocker-Langley San Francisco Directory for Year Commencing May 1900, (p. 1511), indicated that the San Francisco and Pacific Glassworks operated on the northeast corner of 7th and Townsend Streets. The directory for 1901, indicated that it was located at 10-16 Main Street, and had been succeeded by the Abramson-Heunisch Glass Company. The name (and ownership) likely changed due to the terrible accident that occurred at the plant in 11/1900, (described below).

While the directory did not record this, the 10-16 Main Street address may have been an office, and another manufacturing facility was located farther southwest, in the vicinity of 16th and Folsom.

Building Notes

On 11/29/1900, the football teams of Stanford University and the University of California met in the 10th annual Big Game, this year held at the Recreation Grounds at 16th Street and Folsom Street; the event had become wildly popular, an estimated 19,000 turned out for this match, supposedly the largest crowd west of the Mississippi to witness a sports event up to that time. Approximately 300 who couldn't afford tickets or couldn't gain admittance forced their way onto the premises of the neighboring San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works, at 15th and Folsom, and made their way, via ladders, onto the factory's corrugated metal roof. From this vantage point, the game could be viewed. Just after kick-off, however, the added weight caused the factory's structural members to buckle, causing the spectators to drop onto girders, the top of a white-hot, 60-foot x 30-foot furnace, and concrete floor 35 feet below. Twenty-two people, mostly teenagers, perished in the disaster, with more than 85 injured.

Alteration

At the time of the 1900 football game accident, the San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works was in the process of adding a new building to its plant. The addition was about a week away from being operational when the accident occurred.

PCAD id: 19279