Three Rivers Glass Company — Article Collection (Kevin L. Mackey, 2017) (vision-OCR transcription)

Source: 18 TIFF page scans in elib-a-three-rivers-glass-company-article-collection/ (same physical document as the 2026-07-24 PDF ingest; per-page WikiJS markdown transcriptions live beside the TIFFs in that directory) Ingested: 2026-07-25 OCR: qwen/qwen3-vl-235b-a22b-instruct (OpenRouter) via codexis process-scans

By Kevin L. Mackey (c) 2017, President of the Grace Armantrout Museum, Live Oak County, Texas. Graphics by Amanda (Mackey) Shouse. A collection of articles written by Mackey and submitted/printed in the Progress, intended to run weekly leading up to the 2017 Three Rivers Glass Company Glass and Bottle Show, plus collected period trade-publication and newspaper articles from the factory’s own era.

This transcription supersedes the ABBYY/pdftotext extraction in 2026-07-24-three-rivers-glass-company-article-collection-kevin-mackey.md. Scan page count is 18 (the PDF ingest counted 17 pages; the scan set includes the binder cover as page 1). Page numbers below are scan order; each heading names the source TIFF so any passage can be checked against the image.

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THREE ★ RIVERS TEXAS GLASS CO. 1922-1937

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This is a collection of articles written by myself, Kevin L. Mackey, and were submitted and printed in the Progress, including some, that though submitted, never made it to print due to editorial priorities. The intention was to have articles every week leading up to the Three Rivers Glass Company Glass and Bottle Show for 2017. Also you will find in text form the collected articles from trade publications and newspapers of the period of the Glass Factory itself.

Memories prove faulty as time passes ,and stories that are passed down may loose some accuracy, so these old articles may be used to pull us back to the facts as printed in the time of the events themselves. Many of these may not have been seen by more modern historians until just very recently, as many have expressed that they had not heard of some of the details found in them. Understand as well, that the business of the day required self-promotion or “salesmanship,” so understand that “in the day” many of these articles may have found their origin and motivation with Charles Rudolph Tips himself Some articles appeared word for word in more than one newspaper. I have not tried to make a collection of all repeated articles, but show some that were printed in multiple locations to show the spread and interest of the news of what was going on in a little town of Three Rivers, in the rural South Texas county of Live Oak.

Charles Rudolph Tips was born on June 5, 1892. When he founded Hamiltonburg (name changed a year later to Three Rivers) in March of 1913, he was a few months shy of being 21 years old. While the factory did not open until 1922, Charles Tips was working towards that goal in July of 1921 as shown by the first printed record I found regarding the Three Rivers Glass Company. That makes Charles Tips 28 or 29 years old when he started planning for this factory. While the factory began in the “Roaring 20’s,” it would live half of its 15 year life in the depths of the “Great Depression” which began Oct. 29, 1929 with the Stock Market crash on what became known as “Black Tuesday.” Keep in mind that it was while the nation and the world was in the greatest economic depression of modern times that the factory survived, grew and flourished. Some have called the Three Rivers Glass Company a “failure.” I would propose that since it no longer exists that may be a fair assessment. Some decisions that were made resulted in its demise, principally in placing their trust in crooked lawyer. But as all companies will end, I question the using that fact alone as a determination of failure. The factory did not close it’s doors out of failure, but by the crooked dealings of a lawyer and a competitor. The competitor was, as determined by rule of law, to have been wrongful in their actions. The company used the method which they did to kill the Three Rivers Glass Company, because it failed to do so by fair competition. The Three Rivers Glass Company and it’s people, beat them and the other large northeastern glass companies on Texas turf, and was encroaching into their home territories when it was killed.

The, as yet, lasting evidence of the glass factory is the glass containers they produced. While some are simple, and humble, most have an art and an eloquence to them. Some containers, especially the soda water bottles, show clear influence by the “Art Nouveau” and the “Art Deco” style. Nearly 100 years after their contents are gone, the containers are collected for their art and history. History of a short lived (15 years) industrial factory that made 100,000 plus glass containers a day, making a small and rural South Texas town, an international concern, supplying glass containers to places as far away as Central America and Puerto Rico.

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THREE RIVERS GLASS SHOW IN APRIL By Kevin Mackey, President of the Grace Armantrout Museum Association.

It was 80 years ago the Three Rivers Glass Company closed. Some would argue that it was 79 years, closing in 1938, but Ball bought the factory through “hook and crook” in 1937 (Actually December 1936) and completed the orders for the factory by the end of the year. In 1938 they dismantled the plant. We will be marking the 80th anniversary of the closing of the factory with a “Three Rivers Glass Company - Glass and Bottle Show” on April 28-29 here in Three Rivers. It will be held at the Gurwitz Center Friday afternoon from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. to allow people to set up their displays and for early viewing and for those that might want to have the first shot at some of the bottles and jars that will be available by some of the vendors for sale or trade.

I have looked at several sources for information for the history of the Three Rivers Glass Company and its origin, some within the collections of the Grace Armantrout Museum in regard to the application for a historical marker (1973) and the scrapbook collected when the marker was unveiled. I have read period articles from around the state on the factory as well.

The idea for the Glass Factory came from the fact that the Three Rivers area had a supply of sand, excellent for making glass. Some of this sand was already being sent to Mexico to a factory there to produce glass. When natural gas was discovered in the area a handy and ready fuel source was there making Three Rivers an ideal place to start a glass factory. Charles Tips, founder of Hamiltonburg/Three Rivers, Texas, began looking into starting such a factory here. A work force was available, the fuel source was available, and the raw materials were available, but what was needed was the expertise. In late 1921 Charles Tips advertised in “trade papers” for the glass industry and found a man with just such an expertise. H.L. Warrick of Cleveland, Ohio responded. He had lost his small glass factory to a fire the previous year and lacked the capitol to restart. He said he would relocate to Three Rivers if Tips could come up with the $50,000 Warrick thought would be required to start the factory.

In May of 1922 the Three Rivers Glass Company was incorporated and the construction of that factory was begun near the railroad tracks in Three Rivers. The factory was begun with local labor and imported talent and production began on a small scale, as all the glass was mouth blown, and individually made. The initial work force was about 25 for the year 1922. It was not long before it became clear to compete with the out of state big companies they would need to mechanize the plant. That would be the first great hurdle.

The plant that could produce and sell the equipment the factory needed, were influenced by their big customers in the northern United States to not sell the equipment to Tips. Charles Tips turned his search southward and found the glass plant in Monterrey, Mexico had had the same problem. They had overcome the problem by hiring someone, Harold Trembley (in at least one 1926 article he is identified as “A.F. Tremblay”), to design the machines they would need and Tips hired the same man to make the machines for the Three Rivers Glass Company. Trembley was an American engineer, then living in Mexico, but relocated to Three Rivers in 1924 to design and then oversee the construction of the equipment needed for the glass factory.

The equipment went online in early 1925 with John Finkbeiner replacing Warrick as the factory’s manager. The plant would be idled for periods of time, up to several months, but would return to operation until finally being put out of business by the Ball Brothers Glass Company of Muncie, Indiana in 1937. With the aid of a crooked lawyer and illegal practices (as decided by the courts several years later) the Ball Brothers, bought and killed their leading competitor, not only in Texas, but through several states of the south. At one time the Three Rivers Glass Company had a “general sales office” in Dallas and district sales offices in Houston, Oklahoma City, Little Rock and New Orleans, The glass produced would go as far as Georgia, Puerto Rico and Central America.

THREE RIVERS GLASS COMPANY HISTORY AS CURRENTLY TOLD By Kevin Mackey, President of the Grace Armantrout Museum Association.

Last week I began writing articles in regards to the 80th anniversary of the closing of the Three River Glass Company and their factory in Three Rivers and our TR Glass and Bottle Show coming up on April 28 & 29. I ended it where I did due to space limitations. The paragraph that I had to cut follows and deals with the closing of the factory. In contacting local businesses that might want to be listed as sponsors, Sallie came across some interesting responses. One of which was a

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business owner that didn’t know that there had ever been a glass factory in Three Rivers and was planning to come to the show now to learn about its history. That of course is why we are having this show here and I am writing these articles. Now for the end of last week’s article.

The automated equipment went online in early 1925 with John Finkbeiner replacing Warrick as the factory’s manager. The plant would be idled for periods of time, up to several months, but would return to operation until finally being put out of business by the Ball Brothers Glass Company of Muncie, Indiana in 1937. With the aid of a crooked lawyer and illegal practices (as decided by the courts several years later) the Ball Brothers, bought and killed their leading competitor, not only in Texas, but through several states of the south. This was the pattern of the Ball Brothers over their decades of operation. At one time the Three Rivers Glass Company had a “general sales office” in Dallas and district sales offices in Houston, Oklahoma City, Little Rock and New Orleans, The glass produced would go as far as Georgia, Puerto Rico and Central America.

In preparing for a TRGCo (Three Rivers Glass Company) show for April 28 & 29th in Three Rivers, I have been, and am still doing, research on the history of the plant, and its production. In this case, as often is, the new research has shown new light on what was old history. While many of the traditional histories have said the deal was closed by Ball on the TRGCo in 1937, information I have uncovered show the actually deal was at the end of 1936. All of the references in regards to the Ball Brothers times lines list the year to be 1936. One example of that is “Ball Brothers Glass Mfg. Co.” by Lockhart, Schriever, Serr, Lindsey, and Sears. The October 15, 2000 minutes to the Midwest Antique Fruit Jar and Bottle Club show a presentation on the Three Rivers Glass Company by Dick Cole. In that presentation he gave the details, “The company fell on hard times and went into receivership in December, 1936. They were taken over by Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company which restarted production December 8, 1936.” The minutes also note that “Dick is studying the production records from 1936 into 1938 when the plant was closed.” If he had Ball Brothers’ records, that would explain his exactness to date “Dec. 8, 1936,” and update the recorded history.

The history I gave to this point reflects what the previously collected and reported history shows. In the weeks to come, I will present an article that will challenge some of Charles Tips’ memory as presented in the 1973 written speech for the unveiling of the State Historical Marker for the Glass Factory. It will show, and is often the case, that memories can be wrong and physical facts help keep the record straight.

THREE RIVERS GLASS COMPANY EARLIEST PRINTED RECORD By Kevin Mackey, President of the Grace Armantrout Museum Association.

The first record I can find for the Three Rivers Glass Company conflicts in some areas with the text Charles Tips sent to the dedication of the Texas Historical Marker in 1973. The record comes from the Texas Trade Review and Industrial Record, Volume 26, of July 15, 1921. The catalyst for a glass factory at Three Rivers is credited to a man from Ohio who would be one of the early factory general managers, Mr. H. L. Warrick of Cleveland, Ohio. The history printed by Michael David Smith would say that “in late 1921 Charles Tips placed an advertisement in a national glass trade journal called ‘Glass Industry.’” It would go on to say that H.L. Warrick would be one of the few respondents. Later Warrick is credited with bringing trained glass workers with him to start the factory. Smith, it seems, took much of this information from the written record Charles Tips provided and was read for the dedication of the marker. Tips only stated the workers were “brought down from the north.”

With the record I found, also a reporting in a glass industry publication, indicates by the middle of 1921, July, it was reported that the factory was already planned and named. Another man who would find future prominence would be credited with the commitment and building of the factory in Three Rivers, John Finkbeiner, the General Manager that would take over from Warrick. For now I will let you see what you can glean from the first record I have been able to locate in print of the Three Rivers Glass Company.

“Glass Factory Will Be Built San Antonio, Tex., July 10. Charles R. Tips returned yesterday from Clarksburg, W. Va., where he closed a contract with John Finkbeiner and some of his associates to erect a glass factory at Three Rivers to use the glass sand and the natural gas there in the manufacture of glass bottles. The decision of Mr. Finkbeiner to locate at Three Rivers was reached

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after making a very thorough investigation of San Diego and Los Angeles, Cal., both of which offered strong inducements to Mr. Finkbeiner to locate the factory there.

The decision to locate the factory at Three Rivers was not only because of the advantages of natural gas and an enormous supply of glass sand, but because of the advantage of labor conditions and the close proximity of Mexico, which, it is believed, furnishes an excellent market for the product, and also because of the natural market in Texas.

There are two factories in Texas at this time, one at Texarkana and one at Wichita Falls, each of which devotes its entire attention to manufacturing window glass. The factory at Three Rivers will devote its attention to soda water bottles.

Mr. Tips during his trip east visited the natural gas and glass factory centers in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and is enthusiastic over the possibilities of natural gas bringing many industries to Southwest Texas during the next few years. Clarksburg, W. Va., Mr. Tipps said, was but a small village and is now a city of 30,000, built up in a short time. The city secured 12 large industries within a period of three years through its natural gas.

It is not definitely decided whether the new industry will draw its supply of gas from the present available wells in that section or not. Mr. Tipps announced yesterday that he controls leases which are practically in the proven territory, and may decide to drill some wells to supply natural gas to this and other industries.

Ten families of skilled laborers to act as the supervisory forces in the new plant will accompany Mr Finkbeiner to Three Rivers all of them owning an interest in the new project. The factory will be known as the Three Rivers Glass Factory.”

Note, as I learned many years ago as a “Police Explorer,” physical evidence tends to be more accurate than people’s memory. It would be understandable if Tips had confused some of the details when writing his speech, so many years later. Through the wonders of the internet, that record may have some of the details corrected, or clarified, today.

INDUSTRY JOURNALS RECORD THREE RIVERS GLASS COMPANY’S BIRTH By Kevin L. Mackey, President of the Grace Armantrout Museum Association.

The year 1922 would prove to be a big one for the Three Rivers Glass Company in various trade journals. They spanned the range from ones that dealt with the food container industry, to those in the engineering field, because it was yet to be built and powered. Below are several short articles, all from the first of 1922 announcing the coming company, and factory.

The March 16, 1922 issue of the “Crockery and Glass Journal” announced “It would seem rather strange to some that the demand for bottles is increasing rather than declining since the advent of the ‘dry’ amendment became operative. Another bottle plant is to be erected at San Antonio, Texas, by the Three Rivers Glass Co., which has just been formed with $50,000 capital.” While some would say they were a little off in their geography, you could say they at least got the factory in the right neighborhood. The “‘dry’ amendment” would refer to “Prohibition.”

The March 22, 1922 “Chemical & Metallurgical Engineering” also announced “The Three Rivers Glass Co., recently organized, will establish a local plant for the manufacture of glass bottles and other glass products. H. L. Warrick is general manager.”

The April 6, 1922 “Manufacturers Record” “Tex., Three Rivers - Glass - Three Glass Co., (lately noted Incptd) with James Kepp, Prest., A.H. Morton, V.P., Chas. R. Tips Secy. and Treas., all of San Antonio, Tex.; H. S. Warrick Mgr., Three Rivers; will establish glass plant, 190x48 ft., ordinary construction; daily capacity from 100 to 300 gross milk soda bottles; will probably build through local contractors; Install complete automatic feeder with air compressor, etc. (See Mchy. glass blowing machinery, including automatic. Wanted Automatic Glass Blowing Mchy.)” This shows that automation was intended at the beginning, with an expectation of “100 to 300 gross” bottles or 14,400 to 43,200 bottles it would have to have been automated.

The April 15, 1922 “American Gas Engineering Journal” announced, “Three Rivers to Get Gas for Ten Cents.” The article read, “San Antonio, Texas - Contract for the laying of a gas pipe line from the Reagan well, four miles east of Three Rivers, Texas, into the town, has been let to the Elder Construction Company of San Antonio by the Three Rivers Production Company, according to an announcement made by Charles R. Tips, president of the production company. The contract calls for the four inch line to be completed by April 15.

The pipe is on the ground and work was started

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immediately. Gas will be piped Into Three Rivers for domestic and commercial consumption. The Three Rivers Glass Company and two cotton gins will be supplied. The capacity of the pipe line will be 5,000,000 cu. ft. per day and it is estimated that the local consumption of Three Rivers will amount to 1,000,000 cu. ft., leaving a good reserve supply. The rate will be 10 cents per thousand feet for the gas, Mr. Tips said.

The officers of the Three Rivers Construction Company are Charles H. Tips, president; C.H. Kearny, vice-president; J.E. Jarratt, treasurer; A.H. Morton, secretary; and Rollins Syfon manager, at the field. Mr. Syfon recently moved to Three Rivers from San Antonio.”

By the end of 1922 the plant was running reported in an article in the “Live Oak County Leader” as picked up by the Dec. 14, 1922 “San Patricio County News” (Sinton Texas). The story read, “Prof H. Coquat, superintendent of the Sodville High School, was a visitor to Three Rivers a few days the later part of last week, and secured not only the first milk bottle turned out by the Three Rivers Glass Factory, but the first machine made bottle in Texas. Mr. Coquat stated to the Leader reporter that he expected the factory to become a great industry in the near future, and that he intended to keep the first bottle made here as a much-prized souvenir. - Live Oak County Leader.” It makes me wonder what happened to that souvenir. Is it still possessed by one of the Coquat family? In this article we again see that machinery was used in the factory’s initial year of operation.

MANY FIND INTEREST IN THREE RIVERS GLASS COMPANY, THEN AND NOW Special to “The Progress” By Kevin Mackey, President of the Grace Armantrout Museum Association.

In it’s history the Three Rivers Glass Company went through periods of shut down, some amounting to weeks and at least one amounting to half a year. The February 21, 1924 “Wheeler County Texan” from Shamrock, Texas announced “Three Rivers - Three Rivers Glass factory, closed for the past six months, reopened with full force of employees.” Open less than a year, with the beginning in the end of 1922 and going a little more than midway though 1923, the factory was shutdown for an some unknown reason, unless this was the time of additional machinery being added. Michael David Smith’s book credits the automation of the factory to 1924. It is likely the six months described was for the adding of machinery to further mechanize the plant with February 1924 to be the reopening date. By March 20, 1924 the “Wheeler County Texan” would report, “Three Rivers - New Glass factory ships out first carload of milk bottles ever manufactured in Texas.” By “carload” they meant “train car load.”

Another shut down was recorded for the factory in 1926. In the Sept 2, 1926 “San Patricio County News” from Sinton, Texas we read, “THREE RIVERS GLASS FACTORY READY FOR OPERATION. The Three Rivers Glass Factory is ready to resume operations after being closed for repairs a number of weeks. Many new features have been added to the plant while undergoing repairs. The factory will be in operation 24 hours a day, with three shifts of eight hours each. A. F. Tremblay, Frank Schattel and Bill Reese will be factory managers, and local men and boys will be trained under their supervision, giving employment to a large number of local people. All kinds of glass products will be manufactured at the plant.”

Sales and production seemed to be very successful as the same article appears in the Nov. 3, 1927 “Alto Herald” appeared also in the “Mexia Weekly Herald” for Nov. 4, 1927. The article announced, “TEXAS GLASS COMPANY MAKES BOTTLES. Although the manufacture of machine-made bottles is comparatively new in Texas, the Tree Rivers Glass Company supplies more than half the beverage bottles and three-fourths of the milk bottles used in Texas, as well as thousands of fig jars and other containers. The business of this company is gradually expanding to other States and to foreign countries. More than 100,000 soda water bottles have been shipped to Porto Rico and Central American points.” From this article we see that the Three Rivers Glass Company was taking over the Texas glass container business, and becoming a national and international concern.

The year 1928 may have been a slow year in Texas publications for the Three Rivers Glass Company. The one article I did find was quite an interesting one. The article, it would seem, would be about producing catsup in Texas, but more likely the intention was the promotion of the “buy Texas” idea presented by the combined regional Texas Chambers of Commerce whose slogan was “What Texas Makes, Makes Texas.”

The writer for the April 26, 1928 Coleman Democrat Voice wrote an article titled, “Let’s Have Some Catsup.” Apparently credited to the “Texas Commercial News,” the article takes its readers on an

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ingredient by ingredient list of Texas produce that could be used to make a product that would have a large natural market in Texas and all of the ingredients were easily available here. He sums up saying, “We’ve covered every item - we haven’t left Texas.” Keeping up the idea of his conversation he says, “Who said that? You in the back row there’ Just repeat that remark. We don’t make the bottles in Texas? And the transportation of bottles is expensive? Young man, your education has been sadly neglected. We do make bottles in Texas - and good ones. If you’ll ride the Sausage out of San Antonio you’ll soon come to Three Rivers where you’ll find one of the busiest glass bottle factories you ever saw. Free advertising or not, here goes! The name of this manufacture is the Three Rivers Glass Company and its product is being used by a good many people in Texas - soft drink makers, dairies, and so no (on). Wouldn’t Texas catsup look good in a Texas-made bottle?” His close reads, “The raw materials - all of them - the container, and the appetite All in Texas. But we don’t manufacture catsup in Texas. Doesn’t it make you feel a little foolish? Let’s have some catsup!”

THE THREE RIVERS GLASS COMPANY, WAS BIGGER THAN MANY IMAGINE Special to “The Progress” By Kevin Mackey, President of the Grace Armantrout Museum Association.

Today a large Shell station, “The Texan,” sets on the spot where the Three Rivers Glass Factory once stood. Many Three Rivers’ residents today have no idea that Three Rivers ever had a Glass Factory. Others know it did, and several had family members that worked there. The most common statement I hear from those who had a family member that worked there was that they were shocked to hear how little that family member was paid. I have not yet seen the financial figures to see if the shock was because it was low pay for the times, or the fact modern pay is so much higher as are the costs to live. The other surprise I find people have is the size of the business in product produced and the share of the market the Three Rivers Glass Company held.

In March 1924 it was reported that the “1st car load (train box car) of milk bottles manufactured in Texas was shipped. That would have been a lot of bottles, but clearly would not keep a business going on its own. In September 1926 it was reported that the TRGCo, was working 24 hours a day using three shifts, but the quantity produced was not given. A November 1927 article pointed out that “More than 100,000 soda water bottles have been shipped to Porto Rico and Central American points.” While seemingly a large number, remember that is only a count that was sent out of the 48 states. A couple of years later, in the October 17, 1929 “Palacios Beacon” we find an article reading … “Expansion of the Three Rivers Glass Co. has necessitated opening a general sales office in Dallas and district offices in Oklahoma City, Little Rock, New Orleans and Houston. In 1922 the company’s sales totaled $16,000. In 1928 they were a half million. In 1929 the indicated total is three-quarters of a million and with the increased organization the 1930 total is expected to be between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000. Its plant is located at Three Rivers, in Live Oak County.”

It was in October, 1929, that “The Great Depression” began with the crash of the Wall Street stock market. It is possible they didn’t fully realize the projections mentioned in that article. Yet on May 8 of 1930 the “San Patricio County News (Sinton TX) reported “ORANGE CRUSH BOTTLING COMPANY GETS CAR LOAD OF TEXAS-MADE BOTTLES According to Oscar Benerden, manager Orange Crush Bottling company of Sinton, the company received a car load of Texas made bottles this week, manufactured at the Three Rivers Glass factory. Since the glass factory was installed at Three Rivers, two or three years ago, the Orange Crush company does not have to order bottles from out of state, as formerly.” Then in June it would be reported that the Three Rivers Glass Co. would be increasing its production from 50 million bottles a year.” Here we have a “by the piece number” in excess of 50 million a year. What would seem a contradictory article would come out in January 1, 1931 stating the production was only 30,000,000 per year, still a somewhat staggering number to think about coming from a small property near the railroad tracks in our little town.

The increase of their trade territory and their use of trucks instead of the past practice of using trains to deliver their product is found in a October 23, 1930 article by the “ Rockdale Reporter and Messenger.” It reads, “TEXAS GLASS FACTORY INCREASES PRODUCTION The glass factory at Three Rivers, Texas, is the only factory of the kind in this State, and a number of other adjoining States which manufactures beverage bottles. This enterprise is rapidly extending its trade territory ad increasing the volume of its business. Recently a large shipment of beverage bottles was made

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by trucks to a candy and bottling factory at Thatcher, Arizona. The distance between Three Rivers is a little more than 1,400 miles.”

Two weeks prior to that it was announced in the October 9, 1930 Tulia Herald that the factory had reopened after extensive improvements. “New equipment has been added and the plant remodeled.” they said. In October of 1932 the 30 million count is repeated and it is pointed out that of that number 1/4th of the pieces produced were being sent to the East side of the Mississippi. Remembering that this was in the “Great Depression,” the article claimed that the factory was at that time giving employment to over one- hundred people. That would not only be the workers in Three Rivers, but also the sales force in their district and regional sales offices. In the last full year of production, the often quoted production figure was 100,000 bottles/ containers a day.

HISTORY DOUBLE HEADER IN THREE RIVERS APRIL 29th WITH TR-GLASS CO SHOW AND HISTORICAL MAKER UNVEIL By Kevin L. Mackey, President of the Grace Armantrout Museum Association.

In the last month or more since we have announced the show and begun making the Three Rivers Glass Company the theme of my articles many have reached out to me concerning the glass factory. A man who is part of one of two families that bought the land on which the factory set from the Ball brothers called to share information with me. People from around the state have contacted us though phone and FaceBook with information to share. One of the latest was last Friday when my wife asked a man at a garage sale if he was a bottle collector. He had just picked up a bottle and turned it over to look at the bottom. He replied he was and she mentioned the up coming show. It turned out Regino collects Three Rivers Glass and was interested to hear about getting a booth at the show. He was passing through Three Rivers headed home to Duval County where he is a fourth generation rancher. Another interesting contact came though one of the Progress’ readers contacting me thought the newspaper’s office. His family owned the company that produced the sand that was used by the TR-Glass Co., and the company is still in business and is now in its 4th generation as well with his son and nephews working for the company. He was out when I returned the call but his wife expressed he was excited to be reading the articles and she told me she desired to get a bottle, specifically mentioning a milk bottle, made by the TR-Glass Co. from their sand. I pointed out that should be easily done by coming to the show. She said she was interested in coming and barring unforeseen issues, plans to be there.

Yet another contact was made through a museum tour. A man from Austin was passing through George West as he has done many times going from Austin where he lives to his place down in the Valley. He had never stopped in at the Museum until last week. As I gave him a tour of the museum he mentioned that he collected many things himself amongst other things he was very knowledgeable about the rock and mineral specimens we have displayed. When we got to the Three River Glass display he mentioned that bottles were another thing he had collected but he was unaware of the story of the TR-Glass Co. After hearing the story he told me he was going to go look through his bottles for TR-Glass.

I continue to post articles of all kinds to my “Grace Armantrout Museum” FaceBook page, but at this time I am concentrating on ones that deal with TR Glass. Just posted is an article about a San Antonio coffee roasting business called “H and H Coffee” or Hoffmann- Hayman Coffee company. They sold coffee in cans and in 1932 started vacuum packing their coffee in jars. They contracted with the Three Rivers Glass Company for a quarter-million jars, at that time one of the largest such purchases in Texas. H and H was run by the Menger family who also owned the Menger hotel in San Antonio.

Some of the greatest mysteries to Three Rivers Glass Collectors is the containers that had paper labels that over the years were torn off. With some you can only guess at what the contents might have been. Three River Glass collectors prize ones where enough label continues to exist to identify the product that they contained and even more so when you find a rarity because the label is close to or intact. Better still if the label is not faded. Mac Johanson has one such jar from the H and H Coffee Company.

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ARTICLES AS COLLECTED AND PRESENTED ON THE GRACE ARMANTRout MUSEUM PAGE By Kevin L. Mackey

In preparation for the Three Rivers Glass Co. - Glass and Bottle Show, 2017, held in Three Rivers Texas I posted these articles to my Grace Armantrout Museum Facebook Page. Included is the heading for the album which contains them.

The Grace Armantrout Museum, along with the City of Three Rivers and the Three Rivers Chamber of Commerce will host a Three Rivers Glass Co. - Glass and Bottle Show at the Gurwitz Center in Three Rivers, Texas, just a couple of blocks down the street from where the factory once stood. This album will be used to post clips from magazines, trade journals and newspapers relating to the Three Rivers Glass factory that operated from 1922 to 1937. In 1937 (Actually Dec. 1936), competitor Ball Brothers Glass, through hook and crook, got control of the company and finished the existing orders by the close of the year. In 1938 Ball dismantled the factory.

NOTE … Some of these articles may shed light on the history traditionally told, especially the one with which I will start my posts, a July 1921 article in the Texas Trade Review and Industrial Record. You will note that Finkbeiner was credited with the factory locating in Three Rivers, but in most narratives Finkbeiner comes in at the mechanization of the factory.

1921 Jul 15 Texas Trade Review and Industrial Record, Volume 26 TR to have a Glass Factory Finkbeiner involved Glass Factory Will Be Built San Antonio, Tex., July 10.

Charles R. Tips returned yesterday from Clarksburg, W. Va., where he closed a contract with John Finkbeiner and some of his associates to erect a glass factory at Three Rivers to use the glass sand and the natural gas there in the manufacture of glass bottles. The decision of Mr. Finkbeiner to locate at Three Rivers was reached after making a very thorough investigation of San Diego and Los Angeles, Cal., both of which offered strong inducements to Mr. Finkbeiner to locate the factory there.

The decision to locate the factory at Three Rivers was not only because of the advantages of natural gas and an enormous supply of glass sand, but because of the advantage of labor conditions and the close proximity of Mexico, which, it is believed, furnishes an excellent market for the product, and also because of the natural market in Texas.

There are two factories in Texas at this time, one at Texarkana and one at Wichita Falls, each of which devotes its entire attention to manufacturing window glass The factory at Three Rivers will devote its attention to soda water bottles.

Mr. Tips during his trip east visited the natural gas and glass factory centers in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and is enthusiastic over the possibilities of natural gas bringing many industries to Southwest Texas during the next few years. Clarksburg, W. Va., Mr. Tips said, was but a small village and is now a city of 30,000, built up in a short time. The city secured 12 large industries within a period of three years through its natural gas.

It is not definitely decided whether the new industry will draw its supply of gas from the present available wells in that section or not. Mr. Tips announced yesterday that he controls leases which are practically in the proven territory, and may decide to drill some wells to supply natural gas to this and other industries.

Ten families of skilled laborers to act as the supervisory forces in the new plant will accompany Mr Finkbeiner to Three Rivers all of them owning an interest in the new project. The factory will be known as the Three Rivers Glass Factory.

1922 Mar 16 Crockery and Glass Journal Vol. 94 TR Glass Co starting

It would seem rather strange to some that the demand for bottles is increasing rather than declining since the advent of the “dry” amendment became operative. Another bottle plant is to be erected at San Antonio, Texas, by the Three Rivers Glass Co., which has just been formed with $50,000 capital.

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1922 Mar 22 Chemical & Metallurgical Engineering Three Rivers Glass Co organized THREE RIVERS The Three Rivers Glass Co., recently organized, will establish a local plant for the manufacture of glass bottles and other glass products. H.L. Warrick is general manager.

1922 Apr 15 American Gas Engineering Journal TR to get pipeline Three Rivers to Get Gas for Ten Cents San Antonio, Texas Contract for the laying of a gas pipe line from the Reagan well, four miles east of Three Rivers, Texas. into the town, has been let to the Elder Construction Company of San Antonio by the Three Rivers Production Company, according to an announcement made by Charles R. Tips, president of the production company. The contract calls for the four inch line to be completed by April 15. The pipe is on the ground and work was started immediately. Gas will be piped Into Three Rivers for domestic and commercial consumption. The Three Rivers Glass Company and two cotton gins will be supplied. The capacity of the pipe line will be 5,000,000 cu. ft. per day and it is estimated that the local consumption of Three Rivers will amount to 1,000,000 cu. ft., leaving a good reserve supply. The rate will be 10 cents per thousand feet for the gas, Mr. Tips said. The officers of the Three Rivers Construction Company are Charles H. Tips, president; C.H. Keamy, vice-president; J.E. Jarratt, treasurer; A.H. Morton, secretary; and Rollins Syfon manager, at the field. Mr. Syfon recently moved to Three Rivers from San Antonio.

1922 Apr 6 Manufacturers Record Volume 81 TR Glass Co wants automated blowing machines Tex., Three Rivers - Glass - Three Glass Co., (lately noted Incptd) with James Kepp, Prest., A.H. Morton, V.P., Chas. R. Tips Secy and Treas, all of San Antonio, Tex.; H. S. Warrick Mgr., Three Rivers; will establish glass plant, 190x48 ft., ordinary construction; daily capacity from 100 to 300 gross milk soda bottles; will probably build through local contractors; Install complete automatic feeder with air compressor, etc. (See Mchy. glass blowing machinery, including automatic. Wanted Automatic Glass Blowing Mchy.)

1922 Dec 14 San Patricio County News (Sinton) TR Glass Factory Coquat 1st milk bottle Prof H. Coquat, superintendent of the Sodville High School, was a visitor to Three Rivers a few days the later part of last week, and secured not only the first milk bottle turned out by the Three Rivers Glass Factory, but the first machine made bottle in Texas. Mr. Coquat stated to the Leader reporter that he expected the factory to become a great industry in the near future, and that he intended to keep the first bottle made here as a much-prized souvenir. - Live Oak County Leader.

1924 Feb 21 Wheeler County Texan (Shamrock) TR Glass Factory reopens Three Rivers - Three Rivers Glass factory, closed for the past six months, reopened with full force of employees.

1924 Mar 20 Wheeler County Texan (Shamrock) TR Glass Factory milk bottles Three Rivers - New Glass factory ships out first carload of milk bottles ever manufactured in Texas. NOTE: “Carload” means Train Car load.

1926 Sept 2 San Patricio County News (Sinton) TR Glass Factory THREE RIVERS GLASS FACTORY READY FOR OPERATION The Three Rivers Glass Factory is ready to resume operations after being closed for repairs a number of weeks. Many new features have been added to the plant while undergoing repairs. The factory will be in operation 24 hours a day, with three shifts of eight hours each. A. F. Tremblay, Frank Schattel and Bill Reese will be factory managers, and local men and boys will be trained under their supervision, giving employment to a large number of local people. All kinds of glass products will be manufactured at the plant.

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1927 Nov 3 Alto Herald TR Glass ships to Central America This story was shared around Texas, as I have found the same article in the Mexia Weekly Herald as I have found in the Alto Herald.

TEXAS GLASS COMPANY MAKES BOTTLES Although the manufacture of machine-made bottles is comparatively new in Texas, the Tree Rivers Glass Company supplies more than half the beverage bottles and three-fourths of the milk bottles used in Texas, as well as thousands of fig jars and other containers. The business of this company is gradually expanding to other States and to foreign countries. More than 100,000 soda water bottles have been shipped to Porto Rico and Central American points.

1928 Apr 26 Coleman Democrat Voice TR Glass for Texas Catsup What does an article on Texas Made Catsup have to do with Three Rivers Glass? Read the five clips that make up the article or jump ahead and begin your reading at bottom of the fourth clip. … Here is that clip. … “Who said that? You in the back row there’ Just repeat that remark. We don’t make the bottles in Texas? And the transportation of bottles is expensive? Young man, your education has been sadly neglected. We do make bottles in Texas - and good ones. If you’ll ride the Sausage `out of San Antonio you’ll soon come to Three Rivers where you’ll find one of the busiest glass bottle factories you ever saw. Free advertising or not, here goes! The name of this manufacture is the Three Rivers Glass Company and its product is being used by a good many people in Texas - soft drink makers, dairies, and so no (on). Wouldn’t Texas catsup look good in a Texas-made bottle?” His close reads, “The raw materials - all of them - the container, and the appetite All in Texas. But we don’t manufacture catsup in Texas. Doesn’t it make you feel a little foolish? Let’s have some catsup!”

1929 Oct 17 Palacios Beacon Dallas Regional Sales Office and District offices Expansion of the Three Rivers Glass Co. has necessitated opening a general sales office in Dallas and district offices in Oklahoma City, Little Rock, New Orleans and Houston. In 1922 the company’s sales totaled $16,000. In 1928 they were a half million. In 1929 the indicated total is three-quarters of a million and with the increased organization the 1930 total is expected to be between $1,000,000 and $1,500,000. Its plant is located at Three Rivers, in Live Oak County.

THE 1930 DALLAS CITY DIRECTORY Showed the Three Rivers Glass Factory to have offices on the 15th floor of the Santa Fe Building F.L. Glover was listed as the General Sales Manager and the business to be a “Manufacturers of Glass Bottles and Jars” with offices at 1511 Santa Fe Building, and telephone number being 2-6757. Only two glass manufacturers were listed for 1930 in the Dallas City Directory. Libbey-Owens Glass Co. and the Three Rivers Glass Co.

1930 Feb 12 San Patricio County News (Sinton) Three River Glass Factory visit by church group ATTEND MEETING OF ZONE NO. 1 Mrs. Susan Sipes accompanied Mrs. L.B. Peckenpaugh, Mrs.C.F. Kardell, and Mrs. M.E. Moore of Corpus Christi to Three Rivers Thursday morning to attend an all day session of Zone No. 1. Mrs Sipes conducted a leaders training class in Mission Study. The ladies of Three Rivers served a delicious lunch at noon in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Tipps. In the late afternoon the delegates were invited to visit the Glass factory which every one enjoyed.

1930 May 8 San Patricio County News (Sinton) TR Bottles filled with Orange Crush ORANGE CRUSH BOTTLING COMPANY GETS CAR LOAD OF TEXAS-MADE BOTTLES According to Oscar Benerden, manager Orange Crush Bottling company of Sinton, the company received a car load of Texas made bottles this week, manufactured at the Three Rivers Glass factory. Since the glass factory was installed at Three Rivers, two or three years ago, the Orange Crush company does not have to order bottles from out of state, as formerly.

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1930 Jun 20 Big Lake Wildcat TR Glass 50 Million bottles a year plus W.L. Moody III of Galveston added to the board. The Three Rivers Glass Co. will increase production, already at 50 million bottles a year. W.L. Moody III of Galveston, was recently elected to the board, bringing the company in close contact with the Moody-Seagreaves gas interests.

1930 Jul 3 Palacios Beacon TR Glass production increase 50 million plus per year W.L. Moody joins board. The Three Rivers Glass Co. will increase production, already at 50 million bottles a year. W.L. Moody III, of Galveston was recently elected in close contact with the Moody-Seagreaves gas interests.

1930 Aug 21 Bastrop Advertiser Three Rivers Sanata Anna Glass Santa Anna Glass Factory For years it has been know that Santa Anna Mountain, at Santa Anna, is an immense deposit of the best glass sand, and spasmodic efforts have been made to establish a glass factory. The town now has an abundance of gas near by. A glass factory is to move there from Bristow, Okla., and begin operations by October the first, with a $100,000 plant. A successful glass factory has been operated at Three Rivers Texas for several years. The Santa Anna factory should be a success from the start.

1930 Oct 23 Rockdale Reporter and Messenger TR Glass Factory TEXAS GLASS FACTORY INCREASES PRODUCTION The glass factory at Three Rivers, Texas, is the only factory of the kind in this State, and a number of other adjoining States which manufactures beverage bottles. This enterprise is rapidly extending its trade territory ad increasing the volume of its business. Recently a large shipment of beverage bottles was made by trucks to a candy and bottling factory at Thatcher, Arizona. The distance between Three Rivers is a little more than 1,400 miles.

1930 Oct 9 Tulia Herald TR Glass Factory Glass Factory Enlarged

The glass factory at Three Rivers has been closed for several weeks for extensive improvements. New equipment has been added and the plant remodeled. When it is started again the operatives will work in three shifts to take care of the business. The industry at Three Rivers has been successful from its start several years ago.

1931 Jan 1 Bastrop Advertiser TR Glass Factory Bottles, bottles A Texas glass factory at Three Rivers makes 30,000,000 bottles a year and expects to have to increase it’s plant to supply the demand for it’s goods.

1931 Dec 10 San Patricio County News SINTON Three Rivers Glass Co resumes Three Rivers Factory Operation That the business depression is subsiding in this section was evidenced last Monday morning when the electric current was turned on which started the numerous automatic machines at the Three Rivers Glass Company in motion, and the factory has resumed full operation with three shifts of eight hours each, turning out various kinds of glass bottles and containers. The News was informed by officers of the factory that the factory is resuming operation with a greater number of orders, and larger orders for bottles than ever before in the history of the plant, and it looks now as if the factory is now in a position for at least a whole year’s continuous operation, which is heralded with joy and pride of this section, and is attracting publicity and attention from various parts of the State and from many other states, as we are informed that factories are still idle and others closing down in many states of the Union. - Three Rivers News.

1932 Apr 28 Llano News TR Glass resuming operations Three Rivers - The Three Rivers Glass Factory resumed operations.

1932 June 10 San Antonio Register H & H Coffee new Three Rivers Glass Company Container H and H Has New Container The Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee company, one of

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the oldest coffee roasting concerns in the South, has announced a new vacuum packed container for their super-blend H and H brand: Crystalvac. Crystalvac is a glass container, filled with H and H coffee, which is sealed by a vacuum against flavor robbing elements. “The real reason for Crystalvac vacuum packed H and H,” said Gus J. Menger, president of the concern, “is to make it more possible for our customers to have the freshest of coffee. We have stressed the importance of freshness by daily roasting and delivery, but the popularity of H and H has traveled great distances during the past few years and vacuum packing will enable individuals all over the United States to obtain fresh H and H. Each Crystalvac container is packed under 25 to 30 inches of vacuum, and the aroma that has gained public favor for H and H is further retained by this process.” Increase Staff The Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee company installed vacuum packing at this time for another reason. The officials are definitely in line with San Antonio’s campaign for prosperity, and this enlargement to accommodate vacuum packing will mean the employment of 12 new persons to the present force of 56 workers. The initial order of one- quarter million Crystalvac containers was awarded the Three Rivers Glass company, a Texas concern, and was one of the largest individual glass orders ever given Texas. Crystalvac containers are all reusable, and have a real service in household routine that the ordinary container does not have, according to Mr. Menger. H and H Coffee will also continue to be somd in the familiar can for those who prefer; this new day departure in Crystalvac packing is merely and additional service for those who prefer it. Reliable Firm The Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee company has been roasting coffee according to southern tastes for over a quarter of a century. H and H is sold all over Texas and in adjoining states and prominence it has brought ti San Antonio is directly the result of the officials who take not only an active but personal interest in production as well as policies. The officers are: G.P. Menger, prettiness; Mrs. William Schlosser, vice president; R.W. Menger, secretary, and T. J. Menger, treasurer. It is estimated that the Crystalvac container for H and H will increase production and employment substantially, especially in consideration of the already enthusiastic demand by merchants of the Southwest. The editorial and contributory written, advertising manager, and advertising force of the Register, urge our thrifty shopper subscribers, to see the new Crustalvac vacuum container. The H and H reusable crystal jar can be used over and over again. Go to your grocers, buy a can of H and H vacuum packed coffee in a crystal vacuum container - drink the delicious H and H Coffee and use the glass container over and over again for reserves, etc.

1932 Oct 7 Claude News Three Rivers Glass BIG GLASS COMPANY IN TEXAS The Three Rivers Glass Company of Three Rivers, Texas is one of the model industrial plants of the State. This company was organized in 1922 to utilize the excellent deposits of fine silica sand to be found in that section. Great quantities of this fine sand lying between San Antonio and Three Rivers had during the years previous to 1922 been shipped to a glass factory in Monterey, Mexico. Besides having this splendid deposit of silica sand, Three Rivers is in the center of the great natural gas production region of South Texas, and the people of the section felt that they should combine these two natural resources in the production of glassware; and so the above named company was established to manufacture a line of glass bottles and other glass containers. For the first few years all the bottles manufactured in the plant were consumed in Texas, but so the factory was equipped with full automatic machinery which greatly increased its output, and the production soon exceeded the demand for the company’s product in the State. Following the increased production sales efforts were extended to include virtually the entire South in order to find outlets for the factory’s additional output. At the present time the factory production amounts to more than thirty million bottles a year. More that one fourth of this output is being shipped east of the Mississippi river, and most of the territory between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains is being worked closely, with the result that an

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increased volume of shipments is being made to States north and northwest of Texas.

The Three Rivers Glass Company has done more than erect a successful industry in the state and give steady employment to more than one hundred workers. It is helping to build other businesses in the State by making glass containers available at a low price.

1932 Oct 7 Hondo Anvil TR.Glass oppose Glass Shipping Rate increase RATE INCREASE Officials of the Three Rivers Glass Company are making plans to oppose with all the resources in their power the increase proposed by the railroads in the freight rate on glass bottles in carload lots from Three Rivers to El Paso, Texas, from the present rate of 65c to 87c per 100 lbs. This rate is an increase of 22c per 100 lbs. or approximately 33 1-3 %. The case is set for hearing before the Texas-Louisiana Traffic bureau at Dallas, Texas at their meeting on September 6, 1932.

In commenting on this proposed increase, Charles R., Tips, president of the Three Rivers Glass Company, stated that the development of industry in Texas is seriously handicapped by the excessive freight rates prevailing in this territory. Rates per ton- mile are very much higher in this section than in the north east and there is a considerably larger part of every dollar received that goes for freight charges. This discrimination against industries in the southwest applies on in-coming material as well as out-going production.

This situation applies not only to the glass industry but to other products produced in Texas and it has especially handicapped the development of the food packing industry in the great Winter Garden and the Rio Grande Valley sections of Texas, according to Mr. Tips.

These fertile regions produce annually thousands of carloads of fruit and vegetables and could produce thousands of additional carload lots year after year. Only a relatively small portion of the potential crop can be shipped because the market prices annually go down to a point where the freight charges are more than the products will bring.

The farmers at Three Rivers shipped a carload of cucumbers this past season to St. Louis and were presented with a bill for the difference between what their product brought on the market and the freight charges, leaving nothing at all for their product and their labor and the same thing happens every year with carload lots of watermelons and other South Texas Products.

If the canning industry could be developed on a large scale as it has been developed in California, agricultural production could be stabilized to a great degree in this region. Although canning plants cannot pay the fancy prices that are paid for the early carload lots on the fresh market, they would pay a reasonable price throughout the season, giving a reasonable return on the investment. It is this canning development that has largely helped to stabilize agriculture and land values in California.

On account of deep water ports at both Los Angeles and San Francisco, products from California reach the principal consuming market of the United States much more cheaply than is possible at present from a large part of Texas.

The people of this region can begin to prosper if they will unite in a program of development, Mr. Tips said, including the building of a deep water port to served the Rio Grande Valley, the extension of the intercostal canal to that region and the development on a large scale of the food packing industry. The Corpus Christi port now helps the Winter Garden district and the Nueces Valley territory and as transportation facilities are developed its beneficial effects will be more apparent. The necessity for water transportation is shown. Mr. Tips said, by the fact that the freight rate from Three Rivers to St. Louis and Kansas City is less that the rate to Dallas on carload lot shipments although products destined for Kansas City or St. Louis pass through Dallas en route. The low rate to Kansas City being due to the fact that bottles can be shipped to Corpus Christi and from there by boat up the Mississippi River.

As an encouragement to the development of food packing in Texas the Three Rivers Glass Company has established the policy of selling at the same prices in the Southwest that apply in the Northeastern territory but it is very difficult to maintain this policy in face of increased transportation costs and therefore in fighting against this constantly increasing charge, the battle is fought not only for the glass industry but for all producers of

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food products as well, Mr. Tips said. J.M. Cunningham.

1935 Jan 24 San Patricio County News Sinton Tex Three Rivers Gardens housing glass plant THREE RIVERS GARDENS SUBSISTENCE HOMESTEADS A happy and prosperous New year was insured and for many years to come for the prospective homesteaders on the Three Rivers Gardens Subsistence Homesteads Projects by the announcement from Washington that the interest rate would be 3 percent and the payments would be spread out over a thirty year period. This makes the payments approximately $12.00 per month on a good four-room house with all modern conveniences, including an average of more than two acres of land, with barn, poultry house, garage, and other necessary outbuildings, and including a proportionate ownership interest in the water system, parks, and other public improvements on the Project. To be eligible for one of these homesteads according to the announcement made in Three Rivers by Project Manager, Charles R. Tips, a man must have a steady job that will insure sufficient income to meet the payments to the Government and to provide for other essential cash requirements. On the other hand, the homes will not be allotted to people who have the resources to build for themselves. A number of applications for subsistence homesteads at Three Rivers have been turned down because the applicants had a regular salary of more than $100.00 per month, or other resources which will enable them to finance a home though the new National Housing administration. Approximately 40 of the 50 homesteads built at Three Rivers have been allotted, mostly to the workers in the Three Rivers Glass Factory and in other industries in Three Rivers. Applications are still being received by the Government for the remaining homesteads. According to Mr. Tips the Three Rivers project is intended as a demonstration of the kind of housing development that should accompany the establishment of decentralized industrial plants. There is a decided movement of industry from the congested districts in the East, where the most of the manufacturing has been done, to other sections, including the Southwest, where there are many manufacturing advantages, and where not enough manufacturing has been done to supply the home markets. The United States Government has recognized the existence and value of this trend and is assisting in the redistribution of the overbalance of population in the old industrial centers, where living conditions in many cases are intolerable, by showing the advantages that may be derived from building subsistence homesteads.

1936 Dallas City Directory Glass Manufactures In the 1930 listing Three River Glass Co. was one of two listed. The other was Libby-Owens.

For 1936, Glass Manufactures with offices in Dallas were … Ball Brothers, Cambridge Glass Co. Dallas Cut Glass Co. Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. Kerr Glass Mfg. Corp. Owens-Illinois Glass Co. and Three Rivers Glass Co.

1936 Dec 10 Denison Press Three Rivers Glass Factory “Reopens” for the last time TEXAS GLASS FACTORY REOPENS FOR BUSINESS THREE RIVERS, TEXAS After being shut down for several weeks for repairs, Three Rivers glass factory has again resumed operations. With the re-opening of the plant, one hundred men were returned to work on a 24-hour daily, seven day per week schedule. First shipments on the new production schedule are going out this week. According to Chas. R. Tips, president of Tips Glass Sales corporation, in charge of Three Rivers sales, sufficient orders have been received to insure maintenance of this 24-hour daily schedule for several months to come.

NOTE … This is the re-opening under Ball Brothers after they had bought the outstanding mortgage through a crooked lawyer and forced the take over. That is why Charles R. Tips is no longer the “President of Three Rivers Glass Company,” and instead, “President of Tips Glass Sales corporation.”

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1937 Sept 23 Aspermont Star Three Rivers Glass Factory milk bottles

KNOW TEXAS T.S.C.W. Feature Service Bigger and Better Bottles Denton, September 21 - A whole town bottled up - such is the situation in Three Rivers, where over 100,000 bottles are turned out a day. Milk bottles, beverage bottles, food containers and medicine bottles are a few of the bottled goods produced by the large glass factory located there. The necessary raw products are furnished by a heavy deposit of white, fine-grained sand near the town, which is located midway between San Antonio and Corpus Christi.

Showing a varied distribution of this and other articles on the glass factory, this also appeared on the same day in the Mineola Monitor and Rusk Cherokee on Oct. 1st .

Texas Almanac, 1956-1957 pg368

The Texas Almanac, in the section on “Stone, Clay and Glass Products” stated that the “First general purpose glass factory in Texas was established at Three Rivers, Live Oak County, in 1922 by Col. C. R. Tips, who served as its president until 1937 when it was sold to out-of-state interests that subsequently dismantled it. While in operation, the Three Rivers factory established a policy of putting Texas in the free delivery zone which enabled users of bottles and jars in Texas to buy their glass containers at a price equal to the price their out-of-state competitors were paying. The is helped the development of the industries using glass containers and at the same time encouraged out-of-state competing glass containers manufactures to establish plants in Texas. The same pattern can be found in the development of other industries.

THREE RIVERS GLASS CO. Glass and Bottle Show 2017

Fri. April 28: 3pm-7pm Sat. April 29: 9am-3pm

Gurwitz Community Center 104 N. Harborth Dr Three Rivers, TX 78071

$5 Entrance Fee

By the Grace Armantrout Museum (361)449-3325 gwmuseum@ymail.com

Sponsored by City of Three Rivers Three Rivers Chamber of Commerce Three Rivers Inn & Suites - (361)786-4700 101 W. McMullen Ave and Hwy 281 Taqueria El Tapatio - (361)786-3949 405 N. Harborth Ave

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CHARLES R. TIPS ON THE FOUNDING OF THE THREE RIVERS GLASS COMPANY AND BUILDING AND EQUIPPING THE FACTORY The city of Three Rivers unveiled a Texas Historical Marker for the Three Rivers Glass Factory in 1973. For the unveiling Charles R. Tips sent a typed copy of the speech he intended to give, “just in case.” Unfortunately he was involved in a car accident on the way and the speech was read in his absence. From that speech I take his remembrances of the founding of the factory. You must take his speech as the remembrances of events from 50 years before by a man advanced in years, and though not intentionally, there are some details that might have been given differently, if the articles we now have available today were on his desk as he wrote the speech. … FROM SPEECH TEXT … The History of the Three Rivers Glass Company shows what can be done to build, not just a business enterprise, but also a City and a State. The idea of a Glass Factory in Three Rivers came about because of the successful drilling of some gas wells, shortly after the end of the First World War, in the vicinity of Three Rivers, one between Three Rivers and Oakville, one on some land I owned north of town and another just across the Frio River, and some others between Three Rivers and Tildon. I had founded the town in 1913, when the Railroad was built through Live Oak County, and lived in Three Rivers with my wife and first child until war with Germany was declared in 1917 and I volunteered for service in the Army. When the war was over, in 1919 I helped to organize the Dallas Joint Stock Land Bank making farm and ranch loans all over Texas, with my headquarters in San Antonio. However, my greatest interest was still in Three Rivers. By 1922 gas was available in the vicinity of Three Rivers but was not being used. I found that sand was being shipped from north of Three Rivers to Monterrey, Mexico to be used in making glass bottles for the breweries there. I got an advertisement in a National Glass magazine telling the advantages Three Rivers had for manufacturing glass. A man named Warrick in Ohio answered the ad. After some correspondence he came to Texas to see me. He told me that his factory in Ohio had burned down and that he lost most of his money, but that if I could raise $50,000.00 he could build the factory and start making bottles. I put in the cash I could spare, and got some friends of mine, Mr. James Capp owner of a large furniture store in San Antonio, Harry H. Rogers of San Antonio and Tulsa, Arthur Morton, Pat Swearingen, my attorney and others to put in the balance. The Three Rivers Glass Company Factory was built. It turned out that the factory products were hand blown. Some skilled glass blowers and a few mould makers were brought down from the north and a few local men employed. All of the bottles produced and sold in the first couple of years were hand blown. More money was needed from time to time and I had to provide or raise the money. Before long it became apparent to me that we could not make a success without using first class machinery to make the bottles. I found that all of the glass containers machinery was controlled by one organization, the Hartford Empire Company. They refused to sell any of the machinery to us. I heard that the glass factory in Monterrey, Mexico had made their own machinery. I went to Monterrey. The Owners of the glass factory were courteous and cordial. They introduced me to a Mr. Trembly who had made their machinery. Mr. Trembly agreed to come to Three Rivers with me. He built a machine for us and it worked perfectly. When the Hartford Empire Company found out about this, they agreed to sell us the rest of the equipment we needed. We bought it from time to time. It worked perfectly. We were in business, making as good bottles, jars, etc. as any of the other companies. … Tips placed the ad in 1921, not as stated in 1922. It was John Finkbeiner who made the decision to build the plant in Three Rivers instead of Mr. Warrick. A.F. Tremblay (Note difference in spelling) Hartford Empire Co. controlled patents on the equipment and by so doing were able to block the sales to the Three Rivers Glass Co. It is likely the Hartford Empire Co. didn’t want Mr. Tremblay to turn his talents to the making of all the machinery, and there for destroying their glass industry strangle hold by use of patents.

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Grace Armantrout Museum of Live Oak County Highway 281 South • P. O. Box 248 George West, Texas 78022 (361) 449-3325

No 878 Date April 29, 2017 Brett Elmendorf

QUANTITY ITEM PRICE 1 News Article Book 750

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Salesperson Sallie Mackey

Steve’s Printing Service—George West, Texas