{"id":434,"featured":1,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:48:36","latitude":40.4710859999999996716724126599729061126708984375,"longitude":-86.1290819999999968104020808823406696319580078125,"title":"Kokomo Opalescent Glass","subtitle":"Making Art Glass Since 1888","fullsize":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/003ab52b233a413100053bacc7ef8f99.jpg","address":"1310 S. Market, Kokomo, IN 46902","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Howard County Historical Society"],"description":"Beautiful glass has an almost inexplicable magical quality whether it’s a bowl, a sculpture, or a window. The way glass seems to capture the sun holds our attention. Making it though is a dangerous, energy-intensive process. Commercial glass manufacturing is especially so. The furnaces burn unceasingly, maintaining a searing heat day in and day out. When natural gas was discovered in east-central Indiana, glass-makers from all over the country took note. Throughout the region, glass factories of all kinds and sizes opened, making plate glass in Kokomo and Elwood, window glass in Hartford City, kitchen and dining wares in Greentown and Kokomo, and decorative items in dozens of small shops. Among them was Kokomo Opalescent Glass.
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\r\nCharles Henry migrated to America from France in 1880. He started a small stained glass company in New York. Hearing about the Indiana gas boom, he visited Kokomo and met with local officials. With their offer of free land and free gas, he quickly agreed to relocate. The Opalescent Glass Works opened in 1888 producing large sheets of colored glass that were sold to makers of stained glass windows and furnishings.
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\r\nOne of the first shipments of sheet glass went to the internationally renowned stained glass artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. Tiffany had a particular liking for the colors and textures they produced and remained a customer until the mid-1890s. In 1889, Henry shipped a selection of glass sheets to Europe for the Paris Exposition, where he received a gold medal and thousands of dollars in new orders.
\r\nIn 1891, the business was taken over by three local men, who proved to be better business managers than Henry. They built a company with an international clientele. Glass from Kokomo appeared in windows and art objects around the globe - in buildings from the Vatican to Disneyworld. After the natural gas wells dried up, they found new sources of energy, including natural gas imported by pipeline from other areas. Today’s Kokomo Glass, the oldest manufacturer of art glass in the world, still makes stained glass in the same colors and textures and with the same techniques as it did a hundred years ago.
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\r\nAlong with its famous stained glass, Kokomo Opalescent Glass now offers stained and blown glass artwork, materials and tools, classes for budding artists, and tours of the factory.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"http://kog.com","related_resources":["Crist, P (1998). Kokomo Opalescent Glass, An Early History. Retrieved from http://www.kog.com"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/003ab52b233a413100053bacc7ef8f99.jpg":{"id":1919,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Kokomo Opalescent Glass Today","description":"A present-day view of the Opalescent Glass works taken from the same vantage point along the railroad tracks (now part of the Industrial Heritage Trail). Kokomo Opalescent Glass is a featured stop on the Indiana Glass Trail at http://indianaglasstrail.com. | From the archives of the Howard County Historical Society | 2019","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/003ab52b233a413100053bacc7ef8f99.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/8eced42d23dfb8486deb654a425008be.jpg":{"id":1920,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Opalescent Glass","description":"An early view of the Opalescent Glass works, the oldest art glass manufacturer in the country and supplier of glass to stained glass artists and restorers around the globe. | From the archives of the Howard County Historical Society | ca. late 1800s","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/8eced42d23dfb8486deb654a425008be.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/5d9be34e86382d5fef3718b457705931.jpg":{"id":1921,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Glass Works","description":"This advertising lithograph for the Opalescent Glass works shows the factory circa 1910, after Charles Henry sold the company to a group of local investors. | Photo courtesy of Kokomo Opalescent Glass. | ca. 1910","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/5d9be34e86382d5fef3718b457705931.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/85c49663449b67a481e0871d394ee7b6.jpg":{"id":1922,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Glass Works Office","description":"The original headquarters building of the glass operation is still in use. It can be seen at the far left of the previous lithographic image. | Photo courtesy of Kokomo Opalescent Glass. | 2019","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/85c49663449b67a481e0871d394ee7b6.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/9eb74a73a0ccb67ed5789316d9f228dd.jpg":{"id":1923,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Work at the Kiln","description":"Tools and techniques have changed very little at the glass works since 1888, and some of the original equipment is still in use. This image (date unknown) shows three workers handling a change of pots at the mouth of a fiery kiln. | Photo courtesy of Kokomo Opalescent Glass.","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/9eb74a73a0ccb67ed5789316d9f228dd.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/169f3792decbe92b4e6fe55e54486fae.jpg":{"id":1924,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Heating Things Up","description":"A recent photo of a glass worker at the kiln. Tours of the glass works are offered on a regular basis, giving visitors the opportunity to see both sheet glass production for stained glass artworks and glass blowing and shaping in the hot glass studio. Learn more at http://www.kog.com. | Photo courtesy of Kokomo Opalescent Glass. | ca. 2019","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/169f3792decbe92b4e6fe55e54486fae.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/b13e150c4ab5f8464e061de9715133e5.jpg":{"id":1925,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Hand Blown Rondel","description":"Kokomo Opalescent Glass added their hot glass studio in 1998 to create unique hand-blown and shaped glass art works for sale in their Op Shop. | Photo courtesy of Kokomo Opalescent Glass | 2013","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/b13e150c4ab5f8464e061de9715133e5.jpg"},"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/fullsize/0742f6787d363423ff651e0be87dcd25.jpg":{"id":1926,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Stained Glass","description":"Racks of glass sheets in hundreds of combinations of hand-mixed colors, patterns, and textures line the warehouse at Kokomo Opalescent Glass. | Photo courtesy of Kokomo Opalescent Glass. | 2019","thumbnail":"https://discoverindianahistory.org.curatescape7.reclaim.hosting/files/square_thumbnails/0742f6787d363423ff651e0be87dcd25.jpg"}}}