Enterprise Glass Works

Though it was only in existence for a relatively short time, the Enterprise Glass Works was once a booming business on Sandusky’s west side, on Superior Street. In the book What: Souvenir of Sandusky, Ohio (Hill and Dolly, 1903), an advertisement for the Enterprise Glass Works listed C.W. Smalley as President, A.J. Bates as the Vice-President and Manager, and J.E. Smalley, Secretary and Treasurer. A page in the 1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the close proximity of the Enterprise Glass Company to Sandusky Bay. Pictured is Plant number 1. Plant number 2 was adjacent to Plant number 1.

In the early years, the glass made at Enterprise Glass Works was hand-blown. Once the glass was blown, it went to another part of the plant for flattening. At the end of the day, some of the employees made glass canes and other items from glass that was left over from the day’s work. One hundred men were employed at the company in 1910, but by 1916, the Enterprise Glass Company was in receivership. In the 1920s, the Sandusky Glass Manufacturing and Supply Company was in business at this site. Periodical Publishers Service Bureau also was at this location for a number of years. 

To read more about glass manufacturers in the city of Sandusky, see the Sandusky Register of February 18, 1995, now available on microfilm at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.