FRUIT JARS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT

The invention of glass jars with air-tight closures used for home food preservation solved a myriad of problems for early American families who had bountiful fresh fruits and vegetables during the summer and fall, but few ways to  preserve the food for use during the winter months.

Prior to 1858 when John L. Mason patented his famous Mason jar with the threaded neck and screw top lid, people preserved their produce by drying, smoking, pickling, or storing it in cellars underneath insulating layers of straw, sawdust, and corn husks.  These methods left the food vulnerable to pests and spoilage, and in many cases, the taste was also negatively affected.

Prior to the 1850s crude glass jars and crockery were sometimes used as containers, but the inferior seals of cork, wax, lard and other stoppers were no guarantee that the food would be stored successfully.  Metal cans were available but, these too, produced poor and less than desirable results.

The manufacture of fruit jars for home canning accelerated after the Civil War.  Mason's patent expired in 1875 and many other companies began manufacturing fruit jars around that time.  Many of these other glass manufacturers capitalized upon the familiarity of the Mason name (or brand) and used it liberally on their own products.

There were also a variety of jar closure methods that were developed and used throughout the years, which included variations on the screw top lid as well as different designs of clamps, wire bails and wax devices to hold the lids in place.

While currently manufactured fruit or canning jars are usually made of clear glass, the early jars were found in a variety of colors and shades: aqua, clear, amber, cobalt blue, green and occasionally even milk glass.  The jar shape was either round or square.

In the last 150 years, there have been billions of canning jars produced and sold under four to five hundred different manufacturer or brand names.  Most jars were embossed with some type of name, monogram or other descriptor.  In some instances, the actual manufacturer of a particular fruit jar was unknown.  Many glass companies embossed the jars with a brand rather than their company name as in the cases of Drey, Millville, Lightning, Globe, Economy, Mom's, Presto, etc.)

Early users of the fruit jars may used those brands made by local or regional glass companies because of their cost and availability.  The Ball Brothers were the leaders in successfully mass-producing fruit jars and distributing them nationally.  They often bought up smaller glass manufacturers in order to increase their hold on the industry.

FRUIT JAR ADVERTISING

Many early advertisements can be found in newspapers, magazines and catalogs for canning and fruit jars.

Advertisement for Fruit Jars offered in the Montgomery Ward & Co. Fall and Winter Catalog No. 56 of 1894-1895.

 

1912 Atlas E-Z Seal Preserving Jar Advertisement

A PARTIAL LIST OF FRUIT JAR MANUFACTURERS

Below is a partial list of glass manufacturers who have produced fruit jars in the past.  Notice that some of the names--Ball, Kerr, Golden Harvest--are names that are still seen and purchased by consumers today.

Acme
Adams & Company, Pittsburg, PA
Ball Brothers Glass Mfg. Co., Muncie, IN
Beaver
Boyd
Brookfield Glass Company, Brooklyn, NY
Brushwick Glass Company, Brooklyn, NY
A. & D. H. Chambers Company, Pittsburg, PA
Clyde Glass Works, Clyde, NY
Consolidated Fruit Jar Co., New Brunswick, NJ
Co-operative Flint Glass Co., Ltd., Beaver Falls, PA
Corning Glass Works
Crowleytown's Atlantic Glass Works, Crowleytown, NJ
Crystal Glass Co., Bridgeport, OH
Cumberland Glass Mfg. Co, Bridgeton, NJ
D. Cunningham Glass Co., Pittsburg, PA
Decker's Iowana, Mason City, IA
Edward H. Everett, Newark, OH
Flaccus Bros.
C. L. Flaccus Glass Company, Pittsburg, PA
A M Foster Co., Chicago, IL
Fowlers
Gayner Glass Works, Salem, NJ
S. George Co., Wellsburg, WV
Gilchrist Improved Jar Co., Philadelphia, PA & Elmer, NJ
Glass Containers Corp., Fullerton, CA (Golden Harvest)
W. Glenny Glass Co., Cincinnati, OH
Greenfield Fruit Jar & Bottle Co., Greenfield, IN
Hamilton
Hawley Glass Company, Hawley, PA
Hazel Glass, Washington, PA
Hazel-Atlas Glass Co., Wheeling, WV, & Washington, PA
Hemingray, Cincinnati, OH
Hemingway Glass Co., Covington, KY
Hero Fruit Jar Co., Philadelphia, PA
Hero Glass Works, Philadelphia, PA
Hermetic Fruit Jar Company, Portland, OR (Kerr)
Hermetical Closure Co., San Francisco, CA
Louis Hollweg, Indianapolis, IN
Illinois Glass Co., Alton, IL
Illinois Pacific Glass Company
Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co., Zanesville, OH
Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company, Sand Springs, OK
Keystone Glass Works, Philadelphia, PA
Knowlton
Knox Glass Bottle Co., Knox, PA
Lamb Glass Co., Vernon, OH
J. A. Landsberger Co., San Francisco, CA
Lynchburg Glass Corp.,
Lyndeboro Glass, Lyndeboro, NH
W. W. Lyman
Mannington Glass, Mannington, WV
Marion Fruit Jar & Bottle Co., Marion, IN
Millville
Mission Mason
Mom's
Monarch
Moore Brothers Glass Co., Clayton, NJ
Mountain Mason, Midvale, UT
National Glass Co., Pittsburg, PA
Ohio Container Co., Columbus, OH (Mom's)
Ohio Valley Glass Company
Owens-Illinois Glass Co. - Toledo, OH (Presto) & San Francisco, CA
Pacific Glass Works
F. H. Palmer, Brooklyn, NY
Penna Glass Co., Anderson, IN
Port Glass Works, Bellville, IL
Poughkeepsie Glass Works, Poughkeepsie, NY
Presto
Putnam, Bennington, VT
Putnam Glass Works, Zanesville, OH
Red Key Glass Co., Red Key, IN
Root Glass Company, Terre Haute, IN
Safe Glass Co., Upland, IN & Chicago, IL
San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works
Schram Glass Mfg. Co., St. Louis, MO
Simplex
Skillin-Goodin Glass Co., Yorktown, IN
A. G. Smalley & Co., Boston
Smalley-Kilvan-Onthank, Boston
J. P. Smith, Pittsburg, PA
Sneath Glass Co., Hartford City, IN
Swayzee Glass Co., Swayzee, IN
Terre Haute Glass Mfg. Co., Terre Haute, IN
Thames Glass Works Company, New London, CT
Upland Cooperative Glass Co., Upland, IN
Vacuum Jar & Fruit Package Co., San Francisco, CA
Victor Jar Co., Detroit, MI
Weightman Glass Co., Pittsburg, PA
Wellsburgh Glass and Mfg., Wellsburgh, WV
Western Flint Glass Co., Eaton, IN
Weston Glass Co., Weston, WV
Whitall Tatum
Whitney Glass Works, Glassboro, NJ
Woodbury Bottle Works, Woodbury, NJ
Wormser Glass Co., Pittsburg, PA
R. G. Wright & Co., Buffalo, NY

Today, the Ball and Kerr brands of jars are now sold by Jarden Home Brands (formerly Allistra).  The Ball Company still manufactures food packaging, but not the glass fruit jars.

You can get the best deals on Vintage Fruit Jars on eBay:

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LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FRUIT JARS

A Primer on Fruit Jars - an interesting article by Dave Hinson with a good overview on the history of glass fruit jars that have been used for home food preservation in the past.

General Canning Information - Currently recommended jar and lid types, instructions for jar cleaning and sterilization of empty jars, with current lid type selections, their preparation and use from the USDA document Complete Guide to Home Canning (1994.

New Ball Mason Canning Jars - Buy a case of 12 tempered clear glass wide-mouth 1 Qt. Ball canning jars with lids suitable for preserving tomatoes, pickles, sauces and many other fruits and vegetables.

Large Capacity Ball Jars for those Bulky Items - Buy a 6-pack of  1/2 gallon wide-mouth Ball canning jars with lids by Jarden Home Brands to use for canning or for easy storage of cheese, flour, sugar or any item bought in bulk.

Antique Fruit Jar Examples -  See for yourself what the beautiful colored fruit jars of the past looked like in these photos.  These utilitarian jars were quite visually appealing compared to those we use today.