J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company

J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company was one of the largest and best-known manufacturers of glass in the United States during the 19th century. Its products were distributed worldwide. The company is responsible for one of the greatest innovations in American glassmaking—an improved formula for lime glass that enabled American glass manufacturers to produce high-quality glass at a lower cost. The firm also developed talented glassmakers that started glass factories in Ohio and Indiana.

The firm was first organized as Barnes, Hobbs and Company in 1845 by James B. Barnes and John L. Hobbs. Both men held supervisory positions at the New England Glass Company in Massachusetts before starting their business venture. They came to a small community near the south side of Wheeling, Virginia, to begin their new glassmaking partnership. The company's glass factory was known as the South Wheeling Glass Works. The firm was reorganized multiple times during the 50 years following 1845, but members of the Hobbs family were always part of the ownership. During its peak notoriety, the company was named J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company. This version of the firm was organized in 1863 as a co-partnership between John L. Hobbs, son John H. Hobbs, and Charles W. Brockunier. Its products were mostly pressed and blown tableware.

In 1891, the Hobbs Glass Company joined the United States Glass Company trust. The trust controlled over a dozen glass plants. In 1893, the trust closed the Hobbs Wheeling Glass Works. It remained closed until 1902 when the property was sold to Harry Northwood—a former employee of J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier and Company. Northwood's new glass factory, named H. Northwood and Company, employed 300 people and was a successful producer of tableware until 1925.