Mambourg Glass Company

Mambourg Glass Company was a window glass manufacturer that began production on October 26, 1887. The company was the first of thirteen glass manufacturers located in Fostoria, Ohio, in the United States, during northwest Ohio's gas boom. The plant was managed by Leopold Mambourg, a Belgian immigrant and experienced glassmaker. Much of the company's work force was also from Belgium. Former Ohio governor Charles Foster was president of the company and a major financial backer. He was also a major investor in other businesses and two additional Fostoria window glass companies: the Calcine Glass Company and the Crocker Glass Company. Mambourg was the chief operating officer for all three of Foster's window glass companies.

The startup for Mambourg Glass Company went well, and the company was busy producing high quality window glass. A capacity expansion was finished in January 1890. The company continued to hire glassworkers from Belgium to meet its need for more skilled workers. By mid-1891 the plant, and other factories in Fostoria, was plagued by fuel shortages as northwest Ohio's natural gas that was used to power the glass company furnaces began to be depleted.

In the summer of 1892, Leopold Mambourg left town to start another glass company near Columbus, Ohio. During the Panic of 1893 Foster could no longer meet his financial obligations. In May his three window glass companies were closed and Foster assigned control of the three companies (and others) to his creditors. The Mambourg Glass Company plant was leased from the creditors and restarted in December 1893 as an employee-owned co-op. However, after it closed for the summer stop on June 19, 1894, it never reopened.