From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Whitall Tatum Company
Whitall Tatum Company
Map of the Whitall Tatum Lower Glassworks circa 1886.
Company, Tatum,
The Whitall Tatum Company or Whitall Tatum was
Electrical insulator made by Whitall Tatum, circa 1922
one of the first glass factories in America. Located in Mil-
lville, New Jersey, it operated from 1806 through 1938.
The location was ideal for making glass because silica- and in the manufacturing methods for bottles. At first
based sand is plentiful in southern New Jersey, the Mau- bottles were cast in metal molds, which left a casting line,
rice River flowing through Millville provided a source of and later ceramic and wood casts were developed for
water, and plentiful forests provided energy for indus- flint glass which allowed the glass to be moulded without
trial processes. The Millville glass works was founded by a casting line. Glass types included flint glass, blue and
James Lee and went through several changes of owner- green glass, and artistic colored swirls, used for decora-
ship. In 1838, John M Whitall became a partner in the tion and paperweights often made by the glass workers
business. He lived in Philadelphia and worked at the com- during their lunch hour.
pany’s headquarters there. In 1845 after his brother Is- Whitall Tatum mass-produced special-order pre-
rael Franklin Whitall joined, the firm became Whitall, scription bottles for hundreds of pharmacies, such as
Brother & Company Later, Edward Tatum also joined the
Company. Smith & Hodgson in downtown Philadelphia, embossed
partnership and in 1857 the name was again changed to with their names and addresses and also marked "W.T. &
Whitall Tatum & Company and later in 1900 to Whitall Co." on the base. These mostly date from 1875 up to 1900.
Tatum Company I.F. Whitall and Edward Tatum headed
Company. In 1901 the company name was changed to Whitall Ta-
the company after John M Whitall retired in 1865, and tum Company and the base marking became "W.T.CO.",
the ownership was passed to their descendents. and for a decade from the 1920s on, the trademark be-
Whitall Tatum produced bottles, jars, and vials came a "W" and "T" inside a triangle.
throughout much of the 19th century. Antique bottle col- Whitall Tatum entered the insulator manufacturing
lectors prize the Whitall Tatum druggist, perfume, chem- market in 1922, mass-producing them for use on power
ical and other types of bottles. The company developed and communications lines across the country. Armstrong
several innovations in formulas used to make the glass, Cork Corporation purchased Whitall-Tatum in 1938, con-
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Whitall Tatum Company
tinuing insulator production under the Armstrong trade-
mark. Production continued after a 1969 purchase by
References
Kerr Glass Manufacturing Co. until about 1976. • http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/nj2/
The former Whitall Tatum plant in Millville was pur- chap5.htm
chased by a series of companies, including American Na- • http://www.ettc.net/njarts/details.cfm?ID=911
tional Can Company. Ball-Foster purchased the factory in • News article in the "Bridgeton News", January 3,
1995, and in 1999, after 193 years of nearly continuous 2007 on the demolition of the Whitall-Tatum, Kerr,
glass production, the factory was shut down. The build- Ball-Foster glass works buildings.
ings where the WT glass furnaces sat have been demol- • Richard Wentzel, chapter in "Insulators: A History
ished. and Guide to North American Glass Pintype
Insulators" by John & Carol McDougald (1990).
• John M. Whitall: the Story of His Life, by his daughter
Hannah W. Smith. Philadelphia, 1879.
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Categories:
• Manufacturing companies based in New Jersey
• Companies based in Cumberland County, New Jersey
• Defunct glassmaking companies
• Defunct companies based in New Jersey
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