Paul Wissmach Glass and Marble King

Our day started with a “grab and go” breakfast at Oglebay then South of Rt. 2 to Paden City where we visited Paul Wissmach Glass.  We were expecting to only be able to observe the making of sheet art glass from an observation window.  Because of proprietary manufacturing techniques, we expected that photos would be prohibited.  However, our host Carl and Mark at Paul Wissmach couldn’t have been more accommodating.  Not only were we able to take photos but we were able to go onto the production floor and see sheets of glass being formed.  We were amazed by the process that yields so much glass in so many varieties in such a compact facility.  

The sheets of glass were beautiful and is sold all over the world.  We saw glass being prepared for shipment to Australia, South Africa and Germany as well as many states in the US.  It should be a source of great price that we recognize that glass from Paden City is found in churches, businesses and homes all over the world.

After leaving Paul Wissmach we had a quick and pleasant lunch at Arby’s in nearby New Martinsville.  We took advantage of the opportunity to sit in the restaurant air conditioning and debrief on the visits from the past couple of days.  We had some excellent discussion on how we can put our experiences of the trip into classrooms in the fall.

Our next stop for the day was at Marble King only a few blocks from Paul Wissmach.  We started our visit in the gift shop where we played with marble games, watched an informative video on the making of marbles and bought marbles made in the Marble King factory.  The owner of Marble King, Beri Fox, met us in the gift shop and shared a great deal of interesting information on glass and more specifically, marbles, with our group.  We learned that marbles are used for far more than children’s games and that marbles are used in paint cans as mixing aids, in polishing metals, as bearing in industrial applications and in many other uses.  

Ms. Fox took us to the factory area of Marble King that is currently being cleaned and maintained during a manufacturing shutdown.  Although we didn’t get to see marbles being made, we saw the equipment and learned the processes by which different sizes and types of marbles are produced.

On the way back to Oglebay, we stopped at the Grave Creek Mound where the museum has displays not only on the Adena Culture that constructed the huge burial mound about 2000 years ago but also had displays of local glass manufacturers including Marble King.  We took snapshots of the West Virginia Penitentiary across the street while we were at the mound.

We continued North on Rt. 2 back to Oglebay where we cleaned up for a nice dinner at the Oglebay Lodge.  Everyone enjoyed the dinner and shared things learned from the day, discussing ways of bringing our experiences back to students.

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