Laurens Glass Plant Artifacts on Display at the Laurens County Museum
August 27, 2023
It’s glass but it is also art. Art made at the hands of Laurens Glass employees. The exhibit at the Laurens County Museum highlights some of items made with “extra” glass on their breaks.
Margaret McIntyre, a Laurens County Museum volunteer, previous Treasurer of the Laurens County Museum Association Board of Directors, and avid collector of Coca-Cola memorabilia said, “When the workers would have some extra free time they would play around with the hot glass. They would push a bottle down and make different kinds of ashtrays. They had a long tube that they could blow the hot glass into a swan or other shapes.”
Asked if management was aware of the art the employees were making. McIntyre said, “I would think they knew it and had seen some of the finished products. Glass dripped all the time even when they weren’t using it. It was more expensive to shut it down and start back up than to let it continue dripping. So, when they weren’t making bottles, they would be created.”
The Laurens Glass Plant was in operation from 1910 to 1996 and was a major employer in Laurens County during that time. It was given the first contract to manufacture Coca-Cola bottles.
The Laurens County Museum is displaying additional items associated with the Glass Plant as well as new exhibits about the Palmetto Bank, the Laurens National Guard Armory, and missionary Miss Martha Franks.
The Tony Harper Exhibit Hall is open Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 am through 3:00 pm. The public is invited to tour for free. Memberships are available. For more information, call the museum at (864)681-3678, or click HERE to visit the website.
