inventory · items · updated 2026-07-25
Texas Historical Marker — Site of Three Rivers Glass Factory
artifact active p1
Cast aluminum historical marker with a Swedish-steel effect, 18 by 28 inches, dedicated May 26, 1973 alongside Farm Road 72 (later Highway 72/202), four blocks west of downtown Three Rivers. Funded by Live Oak County; the seventeenth marker placed in the county.
Next action: None — physical marker still standing as of the most recent source (1989).
artifactthree-rivers-glasshistorical-markerlive-oak-county
Why Track This
The physical object this entire research collection ultimately orbits — the one tangible thing still standing at the site.
Current State
Dedicated May 26, 1973. Inscription (as transcribed, with period OCR artifacts corrected where clear): “Site of Three Rivers Glass Factory opened 1922 by company headed by Charles R. Tips (born 1892), the founder of the town of Three Rivers. Powered by local natural gas, plant used quartzose sand mined in area to make glass bottles for milk and other beverages and jars for food and cosmetics, attaining annual gross sales of a million dollars. Sold in 1937 to Ball Glass Company. It was closed in 1938, but has shown Texas’ potential in the industry. In later years, factory site became location of a warehouse. Glass with Three Rivers cipher is highly prized by collectors.”
Next Action
None.
Notes
Note that the marker’s own text states “sold in 1937” — the same simplified date this wiki’s deeper research has shown conflicts with a better-documented December 1936 operational takeover. See three-rivers-glass-closure-timeline-dispute.