Corning, New York - The Crystal City

Before the Civil War, Corning was a key location in the shipping of farm products, lumber, and coal, first by canal and then by railroad. Corning became a prosperous and busy commercial town hustling with the business of handling commodities that were destined for final delivery elsewhere.

After 1868, Corning was to see its basic commercial nature change, as it began to become a manufacturing city. The change eventually brought railroad manufacturing, glass making, rock drilling manufacturing and many other industries to the area. Once established, these basic industries began to influence every aspect of the region's development. The employees the expanding industries required to operate and grow, the physical plants they built, and the money the generated in the local economy all began to give the area the stability, maturity, and wealth of an urban center. In short, the Industrial Revolution came to Corning.

Corning's first major post-civil war industry was glassmaking. In 1866, Elias B. Hungerford of Corning patented a glass windows blind that was actually an inside shutter. Hungerford approached several glass companies about manufacturing this blind. As he did so he learned more and more about the glass business and became convinced that Corning would be an ideal location for a glass-manufacturing firm. Some 300 miles to the southeast of Corning, the Houghton family and their partners were ready to move the Brooklyn Flint Glass Works.

By 1868 the Houghton were receptive to Hungerford's proposal of a move to Corning. The combination of Hungerford's initiative, the Houghton's' receptivity, and the attractions offered by the Corning area led to an agreement. If the people of Corning raised $50,000, the Brooklyn Company would add $75,000 and relocate to Corning.

Early in June 1868, work began on the foundation for the new glass plant, a T-shaped building on a foundation of local stone. There were two 100-foot brick chimneys, one for each coal furnace. The construction used two-thirds of a million locally made bricks. The Houghtons had entered into an agreement whereby Hoare & Dailey, a cut glass firm, would also open a branch in Corning. This firm had operated two cutting shops on Long Island, one of them in the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company's building. Hoare & Dailey were to use the new plant's second floor, a mutually beneficial agreement. The Corning Flint Glass Works would make crystal blanks for Hoare and Hoare would sell the finished product.

The new plant began manufacturing glass on October 22, 1868. A number of workmen moved from Brooklyn to Corning with the firm. These men and their families created an immediate housing shortage in Corning. A Flurry of home construction combined with construction of the factory had created a frantic local building boom.

Thomas G. Hawkes, began the second generation of cut-glass manufactures in Corning. He established Hawkes Rich Cut Glass Works in the building over L. Field's marble works on Market Street inn 1882. The glass industry was growing and Corning was gaining the reputation as the "Crystal City".
The proliferation of cutting firms continued when H.P. Sinclair left Hawkes to establish his own firm in 1904, there were at least twelve cutting in Corning and perhaps a dozen one-man home cutting and engraving shops.

The Industrialization of the Corning area was not limited to glass manufacturing during the second have of the nineteenth century. The years following the Civil War were exciting ones in the world of business and finance. The Corning area developed many industries after 1865. The Ingersoll-Rand plant at Painted Post is the area's second largest industrial giant. The beginnings of this company lie in the post-Civil War industrialization of the area.

Abijah Weston established a foundry and machine shop in Painted Post in 1848. The Weston Engine Works included about a dozen buildings on the north side of East Water Street in 1896, when it burned to the ground in Painted Post's most disastrous fire. Financial loses due to the fire caused the closing of the Weston Bank. For a time there was great apprehension about the rebuilding of the company, but by March 1987, the new Weston Engine Company was built. It now included acres of yards, a foundry, machine shop, pattern shop, brass foundry, and a number of smaller storage buildings. The new plant also boasted its own electric lighting plant and fire department.

Following Mr. Weston's death in 1898 the company closed its doors. The community was deeply concerned over rumors the company's equipment might be purchased and moved. Frederick W. Parsons, former resident of Painted Post, was then associated with the Rand Drill Company, which he notified of the availability of the Painted Post manufacturing facility. On December 28, 1898, news of the purchase of the Weston Plan by the Rand Drill Company was announced publicly, and Painted Post sighed in relief.

The new owners planned to build a specialty air compressor and to continue making Weston's Imperial Steam Engine. The new industry began with 125 employees in a plant with 3,375 square feet of floor space. The first compressor manufactured in the plant was shipped to the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 24, 1899.

The business prospered and in 1900 enlarged its plant by adding a new building. In 1901 the Rand Brothers and associates who included F.W. Parsons organized the Imperial Pneumatic Tool Company at Athens, Pennsylvania.

The highlight of 1905 for Painted Post was the merger of the previously competitive Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill company and the Rand Drill Company, the merger bringing together two experienced and successful makers of drills and compressors. The pooling of their know-how and resources was to bring about great advances in the design and production of rock drills and compressors. At this time the firm had eighteen foreign sales offices. In 1908 the Tarrytown Plant of the old Rand Drill Company moved to Painted Post. The Corning area had added a giant industry to its economy.

Many other smaller industries were founded in Corning: Corning Furnace and Stove Company, Corning Stove Works, Hood and Furnace Supply Company, and Corning Iron Works to name a few.

Charles A. Rubright, a veteran of the Civil War, established the Corning Brick Works in 1878. By 1889 the Victorian love of ornamentation prompted the Corning Brick Works to add decorative terra cotta to its products. Eventually an entire decorative terra cotta department was established. In 1896 Morris E. Gregory bought the company and changes its name to the Corning Terra Cotta and Supply Company. Its brick and decorative terra cotta can still be seen on hundreds of buildings in the Corning area. Local streets and sidewalks were made of Corning Bricks, and the Corning Brick Works also became a major supplier for projects outside of the local area. In 1893 it furnished three million bricks for Rochester's water works system.