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Clevenger Bros. Glass works was founded 1930 by three brothers, Tom, Reno and Allie Clevenger. I have read that the original furnace was built in a stable. The original building was partially destroyed in 1957 by fire. The factory was rebuilt on the original location and the furnace continued in operation until August 24th, 1999, when it was shut down. During those years many great South Jersey glassblowers worked at this furnace. Among them are such greats as August Hofbauer, Otis Coleman, Harry Robb and Vermont Frie.
In the early years most of the Clevenger glass was freeblown. Freeblown glass was still being made on occasion up to 1960. Each piece was hand blown and finished with no two exactly alike. Each batch of glass often varied in color. They made copies of earlier pieces such as lily pad pitchers and bowls, creamers and sugar bowls and vases just to name a few. Some of the great glassworkers could make virtually identical copies of earlier glass. These pieces are becoming very collectable, and to my line of thinking, are not to be considered reproductions since they were hand made Freeblown pieces. These pieces are unmarked and at times even fool the experts as to the time period in which they were produced!
It is my understanding that in the early 1930's Clevenger Brothers began to do mold blown items. Some of the most famous pieces of glass reproductions were the Jenny Lind Calabash, the Booz bottle, Washington Taylor flask and the Eagle and Grape flask. I hesitate to use the word reproductions because very few of the molds used by Clevenger's were the original molds. Most of the copies of the famous pieces were variations of the originals. The first catalog to appear showing nothing but mold blown items came out around the end of World War II.
All of the pieces, with a few rare exceptions, were made without any identification marks on them before 1966. I have been told that if a change was made in a mold, starting in the mid 1950's, that a small CB was sometimes added to the mold. I have found examples of this on some pitchers where the original mold was used to make lamp fonts, such as the Star & Shield and the Moon & Star pitchers.
In 1960 the last of the three original Clevenger brothers, Allie, passed away. His widow, Myrtle Clevenger, continued to operate the factory until it was sold in 1966. Myrtle sold the factory to a gentleman by the name of Mr. Jim Travis on May 8th, 1966. He continued to operate the factory and continued to produce hand blow glass but he majority of the glass now blown became mold blown. Many of the original molds for bottles were modified to accept a "slug". These slugs could be made to commemorate anything he chose such as town anniversaries or special events. The slug was then inserted into the mold allowing a bottle to be blown with this on the front, back or both sides. He used the old original Moore Bros. Glass Works formulas to produce the different colors of glass. During the 1990"s Mr. Travis started blowing gazing balls for gardeners. This was due largely because of the low demand for custom bottles and imported glass from overseas. Mr. Travis when in his 80's decided to retire. He shut the furnace down on August 24th, 1999 and he told me he doesn't ever expect the furnace to be in operation again. Nr. Jim Travis passed away on July 3rd, 2007.
This means Clevenger Brothers glass most likely will never be produced again. It is my feeling that all the Clevenger glass is going to become very collectable and increase in value. It is already becoming very hard to find some of the items they made. Clevenger Brothers was, I believe, the last "Green System" glass blowing shop of its kind in America. It is a shame because some beautiful glass has come out of this factory over the last 71 years!
During the last few years the buildings at the glass works have become in very poor condition such as the roof collapsing over part of it. A few of the locals have been working on purchasing the glass works, some with thoughts of restoring it and others thinking of using it for other crafts. My personal thoughts are the furnace, which was oil fired, will never be fired up again.
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