HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Dorflinger Glass Works

Texas Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

Founded in 1865 by Christian Dorflinger on this site. Glass was made and cut here until 1921. Noted for the quality of Flint Glass, Dorflinger supplied the White House with sets of tableware through a number of administrations.

Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

The Story

In 1865, as the nation emerged from the Civil War, Alsatian-born glassmaker Christian Dorflinger established works here in Wayne County that would become famous for the clarity of their flint glass. For more than half a century, artisans blew and cut fine tableware on this site, and Dorflinger's crystal graced the tables of a succession of American presidents in the White House. Production continued until 1921.

Why it matters

Dorflinger's works place rural Pennsylvania at the heart of America's Gilded Age luxury-glass industry, showing how immigrant craftsmanship supplied the finest tables in the land.

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Related people

  • · Christian Dorflinger

Themes & tags

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