The Greentown Grapevine – 1996-07, 03:07

              The Greentown
Volume 3, Issue 7 6ca paper for the people" July 1996
~
Grandson of Famous
Inventor Visits
Greentown
Admirers of Greentown Glass
annually trek to Greentown for
the Antique Show and Sale? held
the second weekend of June.
Members of the National
Greentown Glass Association.
were $ n attendance at the
meeting and/ or dinner from
thirteen states, ranging from
California to New York and
Florida to Minnesota.
A relatively new member of
NGGA is Harry Rosenthal of
Daytona Beach, Florida. Harry is
t h e grandson of Jacob
Rosenthal, inventor of Chocolate
glass. Jacob Rosenthal spent his
life in the manufacture of glass,
beginning in 1866 at age eleven
as a carrp- in boy in a
Pittsburgh firm. The National
Glass Company transferred him
to the Indiana Tumbler and
Goblet Company in Greentown in
1900 as plant manager. He soon
perfected an opaque brown
glass which came to be called
" Chocolate". According to James
Measell in Green town Glass, the
new color probably saved the
Greentown factory from being
closed by the financially
pressed parent company,
National Glass. Rosenthal later
sold his recipe for chocolate
glass to the National Glass Co.,
after which the color was made
in a number of National's plants.
In 1902 he invented a new color,
Golden Agatetwhich went into
production in the Holly pattern.
He also invented the now rare
Rose Agate color.
After the Greentown plant
burned June 13, 1903, Jacob
Rosenthal worked in other glass
f a c t o r i e s , l o c a t i n g i n
Williamstown, West Virginia in
1906, where he worked for
Fenton Art Glass Company
where he developed over twenty
colors.
Landmark Gets New Coat
Putting the finishing touches
on Greentown's water tower are
part of the crew of the George
Kountoupes Painting Company of
Lincoln Park, Michigan. The job,
which included spot sanding,
priming, and three coats of
paint, was completed in mid-
June. Good weather allowed the
task to be done in five days, a
remarkablefeat, considering the
method used is brush and roller.
As the color previously used is
not now available, another green
was selected. The informal paint
color poll at the Comet Cone
( how much higher can you go?)
produced some furrowed brows.
The new, paint is epoxy, which
should last 10- 15 years. The
former paint job was done in
1990.
Former Water Superintendent,
Tom Harper, shared these
statistics: The tower is 100 ft.
high to the bottom of the bowl.
The bowl is 25 ft. tall and 24 ft.
in diameter. The riser ( the
center pipe) is 4 ft. in diameter.
Capacity of the tank is 100,000
gallons. The letters are 3 ft. tall.
By the way, the Kountoupes
crew commented that they could
turn this into " Greektown" with
the change of just one letter.
Dave Turner, past president of the National Greentown Glass
Association, and Donna Huffman of Carmel, current president, with
Harry Rosenthal ( center), grandson of glass chemist, Jacob
Rosenthal.
How Harry learned of
his Greentown roots.
Born in Clarksburg, West
Virginia, Harry Rosenthal knew
of his grandfather Jacob's long
association with Fenton Glass
but had never heard of
Greentown or Greentown Glass.
He learned that a meeting of the
Fenton A r t Glass Collectors
would include a talk on Jacob
Rosenthal by his great- great
granddaughter, Judy Brown.
There was also to be an auction
of " The Rosenthal Glass
Collection." Harry made the trip
to Williamstown and bought
t h r e e p i e c e s of h i s
grandfather's Fenton glass.
While there he was shown a book
on Greentown Glass which
mentioned Jacob. Upon
returning to Florida, he
requested a copy of the book
through inter- library loan. This
led to his first meeting of the
National Greentown Glass
Association in Greentown about
1990.
Rosenthal r e p o r t s t h a t
Greentown Glass is difficult to
find in Florida, so he usually
makes a purchase or two while
in Greentown, being particularly
fond of Nile green.
He is very complimentary of
the nice people associated with
Greentown Glass. " If they can't
help you, they gladly direct you
to someone who can," he
reports.
Photo by R. Jenkins
Last Call
n * ror- Logos
The S e s q u i c e n t e n n i a l
committee wishes to remind
everyone that July 1 is the
deadline for submitting designs
for the official Sesquicentennial
logo. See the April Grapevine
( available at the Greentown
Library) or call any committee
member: Bonnie Bonebrake,
Darwin Freeman, Rachel Jenkins
or Craig Trott.
The s e s q u i c e n t e n n i a l
observance will be June 11- 14,
1998.
No Parking on
High School
Road
The Greentown Town Council
voted to allow no parking on
either side of High School Road.
The reason stated is the narrow
width of the street, which does
not allow opposing traffic to
pass if any cars are parked on
the street. The ruling wiU apply
kom Meridian Street to Harrison
3 treet.