Glassboro New Jersey Historical Information

Glassboro has a very full and rich history which was built, as the name may allude to, on the manufacturing of glass.

In 1779the first glass plant was built by Solomon Stanger, the town was first known as "Glass Works in the Woods."

Over the years, the glass factory changed hands many times. It was Heston-Carpenter Glass Works, the Olive Works, the Harmony Glass Works, the Temperanceville Glass Works, the Whitney Brothers Glass Works, the Owens Bottle Company, the Owens Illinois Glass Company and Anchor Hocking.

During the 1800's, the factory was under the ownership of the Whitney Brothers and Glassboro became one of the largest communities in Gloucester County with a blacksmith, wheelright, carpenter, shoemaker and mason.

The Whitney Brothers also built the Hollybush mansion,which has great historical significance in that it was where in 1967 President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin hosted the summit conference that ended up easing the tensions of the world and ending the Cold War.

In 1923, Glassboro gained recognition, when it became the home of the New Jersey Normal School, later to be Glassboro State College and now the world renowned Rowan University.