A Brief History of the Fenton Glass Company

Fenton Glass is a highly collectible brand of decorative glassware that is manufactured in Williamstown, West Virginia. Founded in the early 1900's by Frank and John Fenton, in Martins Ferry, Ohio. The Fenton company is considered to be the largest producer of handmade colored glass in the United States today. The Fenton family has maintained the origional company mission of being innovative in their design as well as their color choices almost since inception. Today, Fenton Glass is as well known for their hand painted decorative touches as they are for their stunning handblown glass art.

The Fenton brothers started the family operated business by hand painting decorative touches on glass that was purchased from other manufacturers. The brothers quickly ran into problems with obtaining the needed glass blanks and began manufacturing their own glass. The first run of true Fenton Glass was produced on January 2, 1907. In the early days of production, the Fenton line of glassware was modeled after the famous glass works of the Tiffany and Stuben style glass art. In 1907, Fenton introduced colored glass, that would later be coined carnival glass. This colorful iridescent glass is highly collectible today and was originated by Fenton Glass.

During the great depression, most of the Fenton collection concentrated on practical items such as table settings and other kitchen necessities but the company quickly returned to their decorative glass background after WWII. Today, Fenton Glass is still family owned and operated with nine Fenton family members at the helm and over 400 employees in their Williamstown, West Virginia factory. Fenton Glass is typically sold in higher end department stores and gift shops as well as through the ever popular television based retailer QVC.