Fenton and the City

By: Marty Seufer

10/01/2000 (revised 06/07/2002)

INTRODUCTION

Growing up in Williamstown it has been virtually impossible not to realize the tremendous affect Fenton Art Glass and perhaps more importantly, the Fenton family itself has had on our town.  No matter which generation you are from, if you grew up in Williamstown there were always several of your friends whose family members worked at the factory.  Whether you attended a local church, belonged to a civic organization, attended the local schools, or played basketball and tennis on the local courts, the Fenton organization affected your life.  The support of the Fenton's was responsible for a lot of good throughout the various pockets of our community.  Many times when our citizens and town were in need, the Fenton family with no public knowledge or fanfare generously gave what was needed.

I sincerely believe my initial interest in collecting vintage carnival glass had its roots in the history of Fenton and all those early citizens of Williamstown that found a steady job and income at the glass plant.  After reading Dr. Eugene Murdock's (who was a neighbor as I grew up) account of the history of Fenton in Fenton Glass The First Twenty-Five Years by William Heacock, I became very curious as to the City of Williamstown records regarding the early Fenton years.

My quest began by accessing the City Council minutes and other old City documents.  I had virtually no idea how much or how little information I would actually find.  Although there seems to be no actual written documents on the events that led up to attracting Frank Fenton and his new glass plant to Williamstown, I was very surprised at some of the things I did discover.  The names so familiar in the Fenton history are strewn throughout the old City records.  The affect the Fenton family had on our City is unmistakable.  They instilled a sense of Community pride in their employees and were a major employer in the early days of the town.

What you are about to read contains much information that as far as I know has not been written before.  I have made every attempt to stick to the facts and write only on the actual history as it unfolded before me in the old records.

CHAPTER ONE

To get a feeling of the influence and contribution of the Fenton family and glass plant on the city of Williamstown in the early days, it is necessary to have a general understanding of the status of the town at the turn of the century.  Both institutions were undergoing massive changes.  Fenton was just starting out in what would prove to be a long and prosperous success story while Williamstown was undergoing incorporation and wrestling with all the problems and decisions to be made with that large step.

Initially founded by Samuel Tomlinson and his father, Joseph, in 1770, the official settlement date of the town is listed as March 24, 1787.  So by the turn of the century in 1900 the City had already had a long history.

On March 22, 1901 the City was incorporated. The first City Council meeting was held on April 30, 1901. With this new status came many important decisions to be made over the next several years.  A local government needed to be formed.  Roads, sidewalks, and sewers needed established, as well as finding the means to fund all these new responsibilities.  Laws needed to be passed and this new government would need to look to the future as they were passing these laws and directing the path that the town would take.

A list of the local businesses in 1906 include a bank, a barber shop, a blacksmith, a drug store, a florist, several grocery stores, a broom company, a basket company, two doctors, and several real estate agents.  Directly across the Ohio River from Williamstown, the town of Marietta, Ohio was much more economically developed and had a large number of businesses to provide employment.

In the City records there is no mention of any attempt to lure Frank Fenton and his new glass plant to the City.  There is an absence of any recorded mention of any formal meetings with the Fentons and there seems to have been no discussion of projected revenues to the City or employment opportunities.  It is not until September 15th 1906 that the name is even mentioned in the City records.  (During a council meeting on that date, City Councilman)  "S.S. Stewart made a motion that Fenton Glass Co. be granted the right to lay a side track across the County road to their factory, and that they be required to erect a danger signal where the track crosses the road.  The motion carried."  One can assume this is the same railroad spur that was closed in just the past few years.  It crossed Route 14 and went past the old dump site into the rear of the plant.

Although I will make mention at a later date the listing of property taxes relating to the Fentons and the glass plant, the next mention of the Fenton name came up during a meeting on July 18th, 1910.  City Councilman Haight made a motion that F.L. Fenton be exonerated of his town taxes to the amount of $1.44 because of an erroneous assessment.  This motion carried unanimously.

Perhaps my biggest surprise came as I read the minutes from January 9th, 1911.  Because of the significance of this meeting, I am listing it below exactly as it appears in the official minutes of the City of Williamstown.

Williamstown, W.Va.

Jan. 9, 1911

Council met in regular session (as prescribed by law) and called to order by the Mayor, W.D. Cline.  The following councilmen answered present: D.A. Uhl, F.D. Kerr, and J.W. Ryder.

Object of the meeting was to canvass the "returns" of the municipal election held Thursday, Jan. 5, 1911.  After canvassing the "returns", Council as the canvassing board found same to be correct and on motion of J.W. Ryder were confirmed.

"Certificated of Election" were issued to the following - Mayor-elect W.P. Beeson, Recorder-elect H.C. Henderson and Councilmen-elect C.W. Dowling, J.H. Burt, B.L. Bullman, F.L. Fenton and W.P. Miller.

All of the above named officer-elect took the "Oath of Office" administered by Mayor Cline, except C.W. Dowling who was not present.  C.W. Dowling took the Oath of Office administered by Mayor Cline Jan. 16, 1910.  On motion of D.A. Uhl Council Adjourned.

Approved Jan. 16,1911

W.D. Cline

Mayor

E.L. Griffin

Recorder

I was stunned to say the least when I read the account of this meeting.  Two questions immediately came to mind.  First, with the small size of the community and having such a long historic past, what would lead the citizens to place a virtual "newcomer" in a position on their new city council? Secondly, how could Frank L. Fenton take the time away from his new business to contribute the amount of time and effort needed to actively participate on the council?

Unlike today when Councilmen are elected to a four-year term, back in those days they were elected to serve for a single year.  Obviously there was much more work to do then since the town was still being formed.  It would have taken a huge commitment of time to be an active member of the Council back then.  In the next chapter I will cover extensively the year 1911.  The eleventh year of Williamstown's incorporation proves to be a turning point in the formation of the City, one in which Frank L. Fenton played an important role.

CHAPTER TWO

The first meeting of the new City government in 1911 was held on February 1st.  The Council consisted of Mayor W.P. Beeson, Recorder H.C. Henderson, Councilmen F.L. Fenton, J.H. Burt, B.L. Bullman, and W.P. Miller.  As required by the city charter, Mayor Beeson immediately made his committee appointments. Mr. Fenton was placed on the Streets and Alleys Committee, Special Fire Committee, and perhaps most significantly, the Finance and Special Auditing Committees.  Each committee consisted of two council members.

Up to this point in the City's new incorporation, there seemed to be a lack of auditing of the funds.  As with any new venture, there was a certain amount of suspicion that the funds were not being handled properly. This was most likely the reason the Special Auditing Committee was created in 1911.  During the first regular session of the Council on February 6th the first order of business was a motion by Frank Fenton to employ an accountant to audit the books of the town and report back to Council his findings.  Also in this first meeting Mr. Fenton instructed the City Attorney to confer with the president of the Parkersburg, Marietta, and Interurban Railroad (the street car company) regarding additional stops in town, especially at Henderson Avenue and Caroline Avenue.  The location on Caroline Avenue would have been at the northern end of the glass factory and I'm sure a stop there would have been beneficial to the Fenton employees. At this time there was no gift shop at the factory, so Mr. Fenton had nothing to gain financially by requesting this new stop.

On March 6th Frank Fenton made a motion to have the ordinances of the town assembled, printed, and bound in pamphlet form.  Up to this point many new laws were passed and there was a need for the citizens to access these laws if they were expected to comply.  Also at this meeting a petition by Mr. W.E. Roe and 42 other citizens was presented asking for the issuance of $30,000.00 in bonds to be used in the improvement of the public streets, alleys and storm sewers and that a special election be held as soon as possible to determine the matter.  The petition was amended by Mr. Fenton and referred to the Ordinance Committee for further consideration.  This marked the first attempt to gather the necessary funds to renovate all the streets of the town.  Remember, at this time most of the streets were unpaved and in terrible condition.  A summary of the bills for 1911 shows $2,000.51 was spent directly on the maintenance of the streets.  A great deal of  this money was spent on men with their teams of horses being used to keep the roads in passable condition.  This was a tremendous sum of money when one considers labor was being paid at the rate of 15 cents per hour.  To get a general idea of the problem, in a meeting on October 16th 1911, the following was reported.  "The condition of the street and gutter on Julia Street was brought to the attention of Council by Mrs. S. Ruf, as being insufficiently graded.  Therefore unsanitary and very obvious to residents and others in that vicinity."  Finally at this meeting, the St. Clair Audit Co. was hired to perform an audit of the City books.

On April 3rd a report of the Special Auditing Committee was given.  The report was an audit of the City books by The St. Clair Audit Co. for the years 1908 through 1910.  The result was that the books were in good order and the report was accepted on motion of Frank Fenton.  This must have been a tremendous relief to the citizens that had questions about the City's finances.  This would allow the current council to move forward with the full confidence of the citizens.  This was a necessary step if this group was to consider the possible bond levy and have any hope of it passing.

On April 17th, on motion of Mr. Fenton, the ordinance providing for issuance of Public Improvement Bonds for the upgrade of the city streets and sewers was read and improved.  By this time, the amount was scaled down to $27,000.00.  The bonds were to be repaid by levying a property tax on the citizens of the town.  This was a huge decision by the Council because it marked the first attempt to do something as a community to improve the infrastructure of the city.  Even if the vote failed there would be many expenses involved with the election by the voters.  There were commissioners to be appointed and special meetings to be held.  June 11th, 1911 would be the day the vote would be taken.

The result of this vote by the people would change the course and general operation of the Council for 1911.  In the next chapter I will report on those results and sum up 1911 and the affect Frank L. Fenton had on the Williamstown community.

CHAPTER THREE

On June 12th, 1911 the Williamstown City Council met to canvass the special bond election.  The results were - 84 votes for the bonds and 96 votes against the bonds.  Since the measure failed to carry the necessary three fifths of the vote, the matter was declared to be defeated.  This must have been a blow to the Council members.  They were voted into office and had really worked hard to make sure the finances were in order and begin the necessary planning of the new City.  The plan they set forth required financing and that effort had been struck down.

One has only to review the council minutes from the next several meetings to see this body was upset.  The following meeting a motion was passed giving the Street and Alleys committee the power to employ an engineer and fix the streets of the town, as they deem proper.  This work would be done at the expense of the abutting property owners.  At the following two meetings, for the first time in the history of this new government, the meetings are cancelled due to a lack of a quorum.  When they finally convene for the July 31st, 1911 meeting, a huge list of sidewalks to be laid is presented.  Once again, this will be done at the expense of the property owners.  Continuing with the street project at the August 22nd, 1911 meeting, Mr. Fenton reports that Mr. Jacob Rosenthal, (an employee of the factory), has agreed to accept $175.00 for a 16-foot section of land to extend School Street.  This street would also go through the property of John W. Ryder who refused to sell his land.  The Council decided to acquire Mr. Ryder?s land through the courts, which was eventually obtained for the sum of $250.00.  Also at this meeting Mr. Fenton moved that the Council purchase the last code of West Virginia and The Acts of the Legislature.

In the September 18th, 1911 meeting a note is made that the price has changed on the Jacob Rosenthal property.  The property will now be sold for $317.00, with $300.00 going for the grading of the street and $17.00 going to Mr. Rosenthal as compensation.  During this meeting attorney W.H. Wolfe presented to Council the ordinances they paid him to codify.  For the first time in the young history of the City all the ordinances are together in one book so the citizens and government officials will now be able to interpret all the laws of the town.

On November 11th, 1911 Mr. Fenton proposed that the City appoint a special committee to look into purchasing a suitable safe cabinet to protect the articles of the town.  Mr. Fenton was among the members appointed to this committee.  Also in this meeting the Methodist Church was granted the use of the Council Room on each Sunday for one year for Sunday school use.

Near the close of his one-year term on Council, during the December 18th, 1911 meeting, Frank Fenton made a motion that the salaries due the Council members for their service that current Council year be equally divided between the City Attorney, the Town Sergeant, and the City Recorder.  The motion was passed and thus an early day Christmas bonus was given!

On January 31st, 1912 Mr. Fenton attended his final meeting as a City Councilman.  His term was over.  When you read all the minutes from the beginning of the City, you quickly realize what an important year 1911 was.  I feel it is no coincidence Frank L. Fenton was elected to serve that year.  His influence showed throughout the entire year.  There were many "firsts" that year.  We found the Council putting all the town's ordinances together for the first time.  This allowed the citizens and the Council to have an idea of what the laws were.  We saw the first auditing of the finances to ensure the people of the town that their money was being properly spent.  Even though it went down to defeat, the first street improvement bond was presented.  Upon failure to pass the bond, the Council took up what I am sure was not a popular stance of forcing people to pay for the upgrade of the streets and sidewalks.  I am sure Mr. Fenton had some influence with Jacob Rosenthal regarding the property practically donated for a new street.  We also saw his care for others when he saw to it that the children of his church had a place to attend Sunday school.  He also seemed to be looking out for his employee's welfare by proposing a streetcar stop near the factory.  I would also wager there weren't too many Christmas bonuses given back in those times.

CONCLUSION

While it is relatively easy to see the many good things this current generation of the Fenton family have done for our town, I am still awed by the fact this man who was running a new business took the time to lend his expertise to the City government.  There can be no mistake he brought a real sense of organization to the City.  There were many "firsts" that year for the City.  Thankfully, Frank L. Fenton had the foresight to see tough decisions needed made if Williamstown was to move forward and become the town it is today.

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