Glass History 

Once the World's largest glass factory.

    At one time, 6,800 people lived in Ford City and 4,400 people worked at the PPG Industries plant along the Allegheny River. There was a time when PPG handed out job applications at high school graduations, guaranteeing nearly everyone a job.

    Ford City began its decline in the 1960s. In 1955, 3,211 people worked at the plant. By 1961, the total was down to 1,957, taking payroll from $18 million to $13 million in that six-year span. An attempt to modernize the plant in 1962 fell flat with labor officials, who did not want to agree to a 25 percent reduction in their work force and thus kept PPG from introducing a cheaper glass-making procedure in Ford City. It built a new plant in Cumberland, Md., instead.

    After that, the bottom dropped out. Slowly, PPG began siphoning workers from the plant. By 1993, when the plant closed for good, PPG employed only 360 people.