Tag Archive for: natural gas boom

Fostoria News Nighttime oil and gas infrastructure in Fostoria with dramatic flame and smokestacks.

Fostoria and the Northwest Ohio Natural Gas Boom

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Author: FFP Ai Bot

Fostoria News: Illustration, with headline: Fostoria and the Natural Gas Boom

Illustration: The Fostoria Free Press.

FOSTORIA- For a few short years in the 1880s, northwest Ohio sat on top of what seemed like an endless supply of natural gas. The boom remade Findlay and Fostoria. Here is the story, from the Hancock Historical Museum and Ohio’s historical markers.

Findlay strikes gas

The Hancock Historical Museum says Dr. Charles Oesterlen of Findlay believed there was gas under the town, and drilling began on Sept. 5, 1884.

The most famous well was the Karg Well, which erupted in January 1886. The museum says it burned for four months. Its roar could be heard five miles away, people could read a newspaper by its light 10 miles away, and its glow could be seen in Toledo.

Findlay promoted itself with cheap fuel, using slogans such as “Women Split No Wood in Findlay.” The museum says the town grew from about 4,000 people to nearly 18,000, and by 1889 it had 17 churches, 15 schools, four streetcar lines and 75 saloons.

Fostoria’s “Godsend”

Fostoria had its own strike. The Ohio Historical Society’s marker “Fostoria, Ohio – Home of Fostoria Glass,” listed among Seneca County’s historical markers, says natural gas was discovered in the mid-1880s at a site called “Godsend,” about five miles west of town.

Glassmaking needs a lot of heat, and cheap gas drew glass companies. The marker says that, aided by former Gov. Charles Foster, Fostoria attracted more than a dozen glass companies from 1887 to 1920, making windows, bottles, tableware, lamps, shades and incandescent lamps.

The gas runs out

The boom did not last. The marker says the Fostoria Glass Company left for Moundsville, West Virginia in 1891 after the local gas was depleted. In Findlay, the museum says the gas was largely gone by around 1900, and oil took its place.

That oil business had a lasting legacy. The museum says the Ohio Oil Company formed in 1887, moved its headquarters to Findlay in 1889, and is known today as Marathon.

Learn more

  • The Hancock Historical Museum is at 422 W. Sandusky St. in Findlay, 419-423-4433.
  • The Fostoria Area Historical Society museum is at 123 W. North St. in Fostoria.

Information current as of October 2026; confirm details with the agency before acting.

Sources

Hancock Historical Museum, Hancock County History Mural: Karg Well (hancockhistoricalmuseum.org)
Ohio Historical Society marker 5-74, “Fostoria, Ohio – Home of Fostoria Glass” (Remarkable Ohio; Destination Seneca County historical markers listing)
Fostoria Area Historical Society (fostoriamuseum.org)

Fostoria News Local history feature on Fostoria Glass Company with vintage glassware.

Fostoria’s Glass Industry: The Story of the Fostoria Glass Company

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Author: FFP Ai Bot

Fostoria News: Illustration, with headline: The Story of the Fostoria Glass Company

Illustration: The Fostoria Free Press.

FOSTORIA- Collectors around the country know the name Fostoria from glassware. Fewer know that the Fostoria Glass Company only spent about four years in Fostoria before moving to West Virginia. Here is the story, from the state historical marker and two glass history sources.

Gas brings glass to town

The Ohio Historical Society marker “Fostoria, Ohio – Home of Fostoria Glass,” at 1200-1204 N. Countyline St., says natural gas was discovered in the mid-1880s at a site called “Godsend,” about five miles west of Fostoria. Aided by former Gov. Charles Foster, Fostoria attracted more than a dozen glass companies from 1887 to 1920. They made window glass, bottles, tableware, lamps, shades and incandescent lamps.

The Fostoria Glass Company

The marker says the Fostoria Glass Company operated in Fostoria from 1887 to 1891, producing patterns such as “Victoria,” before moving to Moundsville, West Virginia after the local gas supply ran out.

The Fostoria Glass Society of America says production began on Dec. 15, 1887. After the move, the company kept the Fostoria name. According to the society:

  • The company began national advertising in 1924.
  • Its American pattern was introduced in 1915.
  • Production peaked at more than 8 million pieces in 1950.
  • Presidents from Eisenhower through Reagan ordered Fostoria glass.
  • Lancaster Colony bought the company in 1983, and the Moundsville plant closed in 1986.

The e-WV West Virginia Encyclopedia adds that employment peaked at about 950 workers in the late 1940s and that the American pattern was made in about 400 shapes.

Seeing Fostoria glass today

  • The Fostoria Glass Society’s museum is at 511 Tomlinson Ave. in Moundsville, West Virginia, 304-845-9188. The society lists hours of Wednesday through Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m., March through November. Call ahead to confirm.
  • Closer to home, the Fostoria Area Historical Society museum at 123 W. North St. covers the city’s industrial history.
  • The state marker in Fostoria stands at 1200-1204 N. Countyline St.

Information current as of October 2026; confirm details with the agency before acting.

Sources

Ohio Historical Society marker 5-74, “Fostoria, Ohio – Home of Fostoria Glass” (Remarkable Ohio; Destination Seneca County historical markers listing)
Fostoria Glass Society of America, “History of the Fostoria Glass Company 1887-1986” (fostoriaglass.org)
e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia, “Fostoria Glass Company” entry (wvencyclopedia.org)

Fostoria News Historic street in Fostoria with steam locomotive and era buildings.

A Short History of Fostoria, Ohio

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Author: FFP Ai Bot

Fostoria News: Illustration, with headline: A Short History of Fostoria, Ohio

Illustration: The Fostoria Free Press.

FOSTORIA- Fostoria’s story is one of two small villages that became a railroad and factory town. Here is a short history, drawn from Ohio historical markers, the Fostoria Rail Preservation Society and the Fostoria Area Historical Society.

Two villages: Risdon and Rome

The Ohio Historical Society’s Risdon Square marker says the village of Risdon was founded in 1832 on land owned by John Gorsuch, who had settled in a clearing along the Portage River in 1831. It was platted by Seneca County surveyor David Risdon and recorded on Sept. 13, 1832. The marker says Risdon had the area’s first church, first post office and the oldest house in Fostoria.

A second village, Rome, was platted the same year. A 2025 history from the Fostoria Rail Preservation Society, published by Destination Seneca County, says Rome lay between today’s South, Poplar, North and Wood streets, while Risdon centered on Countyline and Summit streets, with Summit Street serving as Risdon’s main street.

Fostoria is born

According to that history, the two villages were joined and Fostoria was dedicated on July 14, 1854. The new town was named for Charles W. Foster, who helped negotiate the union. His son, Charles Foster, would go on to serve in Congress, as governor of Ohio and as U.S. Treasury secretary.

The railroads arrive

The first railroad, the Fremont and Indiana, came through in the early 1850s. Over the following decades more lines crossed in Fostoria, including the lines later known as the Baltimore and Ohio, the Hocking Valley and Chesapeake and Ohio, the Toledo and Ohio Central and the Nickel Plate. The Lake Erie and Western depot built in 1878 still stands at 128 W. North St.

Gas, glass and factories

The Ohio Historical Society’s Fostoria glass marker says natural gas was discovered in the mid-1880s at a site called “Godsend,” about five miles west of town. With help from former Gov. Charles Foster, Fostoria attracted more than a dozen glass companies between 1887 and 1920, making windows, bottles, tableware, lamps and light bulbs. The Fostoria Glass Company itself started here in 1887 and moved to Moundsville, West Virginia in 1891.

The Fostoria Area Historical Society’s history of the local buggy trade says Fostoria grew from almost 1,000 people in 1860 to about 7,000 in the decades that followed. Buggy and carriage makers gave way to automobiles; the society writes that Allen Motor Car Co. started producing cars in Fostoria in 1912, and that the original Autolite plant started in the former Peabody carriage building.

The trolley era

From 1898 to 1932, electric interurban lines connected Fostoria with Tiffin, Findlay, Toledo and Fremont, according to the Fostoria Rail Preservation Society.

Learn more

The Fostoria Area Historical Society museum is at 123 W. North St. The society’s website includes decades of local history columns.

Information current as of October 2026; confirm details with the agency before acting.

Sources

Ohio Historical Society / Remarkable Ohio, marker 1-74 Risdon Square
Ohio Historical Society / Remarkable Ohio, marker 5-74 Fostoria, Ohio – Home of Fostoria Glass (via Destination Seneca County historical markers listing)
Fostoria Rail Preservation Society, “From Risdon and Rome to the Rails” (Destination Seneca County blog, March 24, 2025)
Fostoria Area Historical Society, “Rise and Fall of Buggy Business in Fostoria” (Oct. 30, 1980 column, fostoriamuseum.org)
U.S. House of Representatives History, Art and Archives, Charles Foster biography

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