Corning, NY

The Town That Glass Built

Corning makes glass and glass has helped make Corning.

Since the Brooklyn Flint Glass company moved to this upstate New York town in 1868, changing its name to the Corning Glass Works, glassmaking has been the town’s central industry. The company today, now known as Corning Inc., has 40,000 employees internationally—some 8,000 of them in the Corning area—with its world corporate headquarters in this community of 10,842.

The Corning Museum of Glass, which chronicles some of Corning’s glassmaking history, is independent from, but strongly supported by, Corning Inc. and receives 400,000 visitors annually. They learn about the 3,500-year history of glass—from ancient Egyptian pieces to today’s fiber optics. The museum’s hot glass show with its glowing furnaces and molten, almost liquid glass, is a popular attraction, where skilled glassmakers shape glass into sparkling vases or intricate fish using steel tools and long “blowpipes.” While a narrator tells what’s happening, visitors get a close-up view, on overhead monitors, inside the 2,350-degree furnaces.

“We also have a strong education department,” says museum spokesperson Patricia Corle. “We have a lot of school tours coming through.” The museum’s educational program includes “The Studio,” where glassmakers and novices come for instruction on levels from beginner to advanced. What they learn in Corning they take with them all over the world.

While the Museum of Glass is a major Corning attraction, Market Street, a restored historical district created after a flood devastated the town in 1972, has historic facades with the feel of the late 19th century. The development of Market Street was overseen by a local restoration agency—with support from both the glass company and the community.

“We have a nice variety of stores here,” says Pat White, who works for the Steuben County Conference & Visitors Bureau. Some 115 stores share the restored five-block area. “The town does everything it can to encourage glass studios, galleries, and fine restaurants, as well as the shops.”

Corning’s streets—including Market Street, often crowded in the summer—have a comfortable look that promotes a relaxed pace. Nearby, Centerway Square’s large open plaza is perfect for sitting awhile. The square and Market Street host activities throughout the year, from a farmer’s market in summer to Christmas arts & crafts in winter.

The square is also home to a Corning landmark. The clock tower in the square was built in memory of Erastus Corning, the financier after whom the community is named. A short distance away is another tower, the “Little Joe.” The 196-foot-tall structure was built early in the 20th century for the manufacture of glass thermometer tubes. An image of a glass blower painted on the side of the tower was named Little Joe, hence the name. Though it’s no longer used for making thermometers, the tower has become a symbol of Corning’s glassmaking industries.

Since that industry put down roots in the 19th century and grew, the fortunes of the community largely have depended on the fortunes of Corning Inc. The company has made changes in recent years, Mayor Alan D. Lewis Sr. says. He notes the company has gone from being a simple glassmaking company—its Corning Ware is famous—to more high tech manufacturing.

“Fiber optics is the key,” (Fiber optics transmits information by light pulses along glass fibers.) Lewis says. “They transitioned from consumer products. I think you can safely say we’re a one company town. The dominance of employment in this valley is pretty much Corning Inc. And they’re good jobs. People are rewarded quite well for working with the company,” he says.

Corning has much to be proud of, but Jeff Bong, who operates a jewelry story on Market Street that has been owned by his family since 1892, points to the town’s vitality.

“We’re proud of our growth,” Bong says. “Corning Inc. is a world corporation. They’re a world power in telecommunications and fiber optics. There’s a great sense of pride in that fact—and also that our friends and neighbors made that happen.”

Ben Fanton is a freelance writer from Wellsville, N.Y.

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