132-year-old Charleroi glass plant ends production, set to close
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Elaine Smith had to hear the Corning whistle one last time.
Smith, 70, of Monessen retired in 2020 after a 45-year career at the Pyrex glass plant, which has been a staple in Charleroi for more than a century.
She said she was ready for tears to flow Friday for the final sounding of the air whistle, which was once a daily occurrence over the mill town of about 4,200 on the west bank of the Monongahela River in Washington County.
“When it blew, you knew it was noon and you were on Corning time,” Smith said. “I brought tissues today for when the whistle blows for the last time. Everyone in town heard it, and now the silence will be deafening.”
Smith, along with most of the remaining active workers who were on duty Friday, gathered shortly before noon for a ceremony to commemorate the plant’s last day of production and its impending closure.
After 132 years in business, the plant, most recently known as the Corelle Brands, is set to close its doors in the Mon Valley. The company last fall announced its intent to shutter the facility and shift production to Lancaster, Ohio. A federal judge in November denied an attempt by the state to keep Corelle from moving to Ohio.
In February, the company said it would continue operating through July, but workers were notified just days ago that Friday was the end of production and most plant operations would cease.
The final Pyrex glassware product, a square baking dish, came off the line shortly after 6 a.m., according to Daniele Byrne, a mechanic and vice president of the United Steelworkers of America Local 53G, which represents employees at the plant.
Byrne expressed disdain for the company’s one-time competitor, Anchor Hocking, which acquired the Pyrex rights and eventually decided to shift production out of Charleroi.
“This is for us,” Byrne said as she and two of her coworkers raised a flag over the grounds to honor the Corning legacy. “You won’t see quality ware come out of Ohio like you saw came out of here. What came out of here was the best glass ever. It’s pure jealousy that they bought us and put us under.”
Fred Vance, a 47-year veteran of the plant, lamented the decision to close down the plant.
“They’re going to put their name on our ware and hope consumers won’t know the difference,” Vance said. “They will.”
Friday was the last day on the job for most of the 200 workers. The factory at one time saw hundreds of employees working round-the-clock shifts.
It will operate for the next several weeks with a skeleton crew of about three dozen to ship out the remaining product, and clean and close the building.
For Rich Monach, 58, of Charleroi, the plant has been part of a family legacy. His grandfather worked at the Charleroi factory as a glassmaker nearly a century ago.
“This is going to cripple Charleroi,” Monach said. “It was the biggest employer in the Valley, especially after the steel and coal mines closed. I guess I’ll have to take time off and look for another job.”
Bernie Sobek, a 44-year veteran of the plant and member of its maintenance staff, said she was surprised last year when word first trickled out about the closure. She said it hit home this week as glass production ended.
“I started here when I was 20, and I don’t know anything else,” Sobek said. “When we close this, it will be a ghost town.”
Larry McWilliams, 53, has worked as an electrician at the plant for 25 years. He will work another two weeks before his employment ends.
“I thought I’d retire from this job,” McWilliams said. “It is devastating. I don’t know how else to put it.”
Anthony Pane, an engineer who worked at the Charleroi location for 36 years, said the Corning whistle blared through town for nearly a century until the early 2000s. Once the plant’s closing was announced in February, employees restarted the tradition with many of the remaining workers getting one last opportunity to make it sound.
The whistle rumbled for 132 seconds Friday afternoon — signifying each year the factory has operated in Charleroi.
“It’s heartbreaking.” Monach said. “You spend your whole life here, and they just pull the rug out from under you.
“This is corporate greed.”