Glass History
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The 'Miracle of Glass' - past, present, and future,
was presented at The Glass Center,
during the New York Worlds Fair in 1939 - 1940. At the time, it was the greatest and most comprehensive glass display in history.
In addition to The Glass Center building, PPG exhibited an All-Glass House showing innumerable ways to use glass practically in beautifying and modernizing the home. |
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The Glass Center erected at the New York World's Fair 1939 has a floor area of 25,000 square feet and contains the exhibits of three leading glass companies. Corning Glass Works, Owens-Illinois Glass Company and Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. The tower, 108 feet high, is constructed of blue plate glass and glass block.
Glass, Incorporated
On the Avenue of Pioneers, a tower of plate glass and glass brick, illuminated at night, surmounts the Glass Center (Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, architects and designers). In the great rotunda, where decorative panels depict the history of the industry, the main exhibit features a furnace containing molten glass and manned by a crew of glass blowers.
Corning Glass Works presents an elaborate display of its products including the series, "Corning Means Research in Glass," illustrating the company's contributions to modern civilization. Here is shown the largest clear crystal piece of Steuben glass ever made.
The Owens-Illinois Glass Company displays fiberglass, glass block, containers and Libbey tableware. Two animated bottles are synchronized with light and sound. A color-banding machine demonstrates the application of color, and a device tests the durability of glass tumblers.
The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company features a glass blackboard on which a telautograph arm writes continuously and an automatic eraser wipes away the chalk. Another exhibit demonstrates the imperviousness of a glass block to heat or cold.
Millions of spectators viewed these exhibits carrying away impressions which gave impetus to the growing trend toward a more general use of glass.
| Fair Memorabilia Featuring The Glass Center: | |
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Glass Block Bank From The Glass Center |
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