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History of Hazel Atlas Glass Company  (1880's-1956) 

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Unlike many of the dozens of Glass manufacturers of the era, Hazel Atlas excelled in that not only did they produce functional and utilitarian glass, but they were the fore-runner of the household glass production which was an indispensable industry during the formative years of the Great Depression.

While many glass houses closed or changed production away from everyday utilitarian glass, Hazel Atlas continued to make great strides in manufacturing the Glass our mother's and grandmothers would use everyday in cooking, baking serving and storing food.

That year Hazel Atlas would be the first glass house in America to produce for widespread use, a colored transparent dinnerware, which today we refer to as Depression Glass.  The Ovide pattern, which was produced only in green, would become the testing ground for the large majority of the Hazel Atlas dinnerware lines over the next 30+ years.

Enjoying mild success from this first venture into dinnerware, other companies took note and began producing their own lines of dinnerware as well, only expanding the idea and adding in intricate patterns. This of course, sparked a revolution in the American glass industry which would last for practically 20 years and inspire Hazel Atlas to produce more decorative and appealing dinnerware lines such as: Cloverleaf, Florentine I, Florentine II, Royal Lace, New Century, Moderntone and Newport.

Not only were patterns becoming an important concept, but so were a flurry of colors. In addition to the original Green color, pink, Ritz Blue, yellow, amber, black, amethyst and white glass became equally important in marketing their wares to the public.

Hazel Atlas became industrious in formulating their own unique colors (even so, that they received a patent on one color and trademark on another), so as to easily distinguish them from their competitors, as now the country was in a great depression and successful marketing would determine the fate of many glass houses. Note the difference in the Hazel Atlas blue which was called Ritz Blue. It is distinguished from the deep cobalt blue of other companies, the golden yellow produced by Hazel Atlas has no comparable counterpart, and their pink glass (Sunset Pink) was consistently formulated so as not to deviate largely, like that of Jeannette and Hocking Glass companies.

While most of these colors lasted only a few years on different patterns, the continued mainstay of Hazel Atlas was the clear glass (mostly commercial), green glass and a patented process they called Platonite.

Hazel Atlas continued innovating and defining the household glass industry, producing kitchenware, dinnerware, children's ware, commercial containers and hostess ware until in 1956 a buyout by the world's largest food container company, Continental Can Company, brought an end to over 50 years of phenomenal growth for a small glass house that had it's roots in Washington PA.
Although, it should be noted, Continental Can continued to produce some lines and introduced new lines under the Hazelware label until 1963 when the US Government ordered the break up of Continental Can in a much publicized Anti-trust lawsuit (US vs. Continental Can Co). 

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