KYGW
Kentucky Glass Works Company, Louisville, KY (1879-1889).
The marks "KY.G.W." and "KY.G.W.CO." which were used on glassware made by this company are often mistakenly attributed to the original "Kentucky Glass Works", which had operated in Louisville at the SE corner of Clay & Franklin Streets from 1850 to about 1855 (and which was known as the "Louisville Glass Works" from 1855-1873).
The Kentucky Glass Works of the 1850s did not mark ANY items with their glasshouse name, or their initials, so far as I can determine. Because of the dates for these marks [1849-1855] given by Julian H. Toulouse in Bottle Makers and their Marks (1971), which have been widely copied by several other writers in the ensuing years, it is commonly assumed by collectors and historical archaeologists that the KY.G.W. marks date from that early period. However, a close study of various bottles embossed with these initials prove that they date from the 1880s period, NOT the 1850s.
From my own research I've found that a later factory known as the Kentucky Glass Works Company operated in Louisville from 1879 to approximately 1889 and is the source of all bottles with these marks. Several end-user companies who had bottles manufactured for them which carry these markings on the base were found to have been in existence only during the 1880s.
The Kentucky Glass Works Company factory made a large variety of bottles and jars, including medicine, tonic, beer, ale, soda, whiskey and pickle bottles, coffin flasks, wax sealer fruit jars, bluing, worcestershire sauce, and many other utility types.
The company was incorporated in July of 1879 by Edward Bull, William Cromey and John Stanger, Sr., with Stanger as superintendent. Within 5 months, Stanger had left the business and Henry Lentz of St. Louis filled the position of superintendent, holding that office for the rest of the time the company was in operation.
The factory employed a total of well over 200 men and boys during it's existence, although, at any one time, the number of workers was probably closer to 70. The factory operated in (what was then) the south side of Louisville, located at the southwest corner of 4th Street and Avery. This location is now a parking lot used by the University of Louisville.
Two other slightly different marks used by this company were "K.G.W.CO." and "K.Y.G.CO." They are much more rarely seen, and apparently were used on only a few types of bottles. At present, I can confirm that the "K.G.W.CO." mark appears on the base of a blob-top quart amber beer bottle, and "K.Y.G.CO." is seen on at least two sizes of aqua coffin or "shoofly" whiskey flasks. (The jar shown on this page is a half-gallon "wax sealer" style fruit jar in medium green, marked "KY.G.W." on the base).
On another note, the earlier, unrelated Louisville Glass Works mentioned above (well known for several types of eagle flasks they manufactured which are embossed "LOUISVILLE KY. GLASS WORKS"), closed down in 1873, evidently as a result of the severe recession of that year, and never re-opened. Also, another company with a similar name (Louisville Plate Glass Works) was opened by John B. Ford in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville in 1874, but that concern produced only plate and window glass. It operated there until around 1888, with frequent periods thoughout those years during which the works were idle. Entries in Louisville city directories for the plate glass factory sometimes shortened the listing to "Louisville Glass Works", and this has confused researchers who assumed that this and the Louisville Glass Works of 1855-1873 were one and the same, which is incorrect.
GLASS MANUFACTURERS' MARKS FOUND ON BOTTLES
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