Glass Worker's Monument, (sculpture).

Glass Worker's Monument, (sculpture).

Riley Brothers Monument Works, fabricator.

Glass Worker's Monument, (sculpture).

Commissioned July 15, 1891. Dedicated Sept. 16, 1893.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: Quincy granite; Base: stone.

Sculpture: approx. H. 25 ft. x W. 18 ft.; Base: approx. H. 22 in.

RILEY BROTHERS, BROOKLYN, NY (Around emblem at top front of arch:) N.H. OF A.F.G.W.U./OF NORTH AMERICA. (On front of arch:) (Left side:) THIS MONUMENT/HAS BEEN ERECTED BY THE/AMERICAN FLINT GLASS/WORKERS UNION/TO THE MEMORY OF EIGHTEEN OF ITS/MEMBERS WHO WERE KILLED IN A/RAILROAD DISASTER WHICH OCCURRED AT/RAVENNA, OHIO, JULY 3RD 1891,/WHILE THEY WERE ENROUTE FROM/FINDLAY, OHIO, TO THEIR HOMES IN/CORNING, NEW YORK, WHITHER THEY/WERE JOURNEYING TO MEET LOVING/FRIENDS FROM WHOM THEY HAD BEEN/SEPARATED BY AN EFFORT TO IMPROVE/THEIR INDUSTRIAL CONDITION/ERECTED 1892. (On right side: names and ages of 18 men killed in accident) unsigned Founder's mark appears.

A male glassblower stands dressed in work clothes holding a gaffer's blowing iron with both hands in front of him, proper right hand slightly above proper left hand. He wears a buttoned shirt with rolled up sleeves. He has thick hair and a bushy mustache. The sculpture is mounted above the keystone of a thick arch made of polished dark Quincy granite. On the front of the keystone is the American Flint Glass Workers Union of North America emblem. Each pillar of the arch is mounted on a stone block base.

Figure male -- Full length

Occupation -- Craft -- Glassworker

Object -- Tool -- Blowing Iron

Outdoor Sculpture -- New York -- Corning

Administered by St. Mary's Church, State Street, Corning, New York 14830

Located St. Mary's Cemetery, Park Avenue, Corning, New York

The sculpture cost $3,500. It marks the common grave of 18 glassworkers who were killed in a fiery train accident on July 3, 1881. The American Flint Glass Workers Union of North America installed the sculpture in their memory. The union members had taken work temporarily in a electric light bulb plant in Findlay, Ohio and were on their way back home to Corning, New York when their train was hit from behind by another train while waiting in the depot at Ravenna, Ohio.

IAS files contain a complete transcription of names listed on base. IAS files contain a related excerpt from R. F. McNamara's "A Century of Grace"; articles from the Corning Democrat, July 11, 1892 and July 12, 1893; and the Corning Daily Journal, July 11, 1892 and Sept. 18, 1893; and a related brochure from an American Flint Glass Workers Union Memorial Service, July 3, 1991.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York survey, 1994.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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