Soon we were doing very, very well. Natural gas prices increased dramatically and the production of wood stoves for supplemental home heating increased even faster. We used split firebrick to line the wood stoves and most firebrick manufacturers could not make delivery. WG built up inventories, took care of the customers and became a major …
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1960s, WG Purchases Alliance Brick Company Facility
Our other top priority was to get ladle brick and face brick into continuous kilns. Without funds to build a kiln at Waynesburg, we were relegated to find a plant that could be purchased for a bargain price. After visits to about 10 broken-down plants around the country, Dick James suggested we talk to Don …
Lynn Morrison Joins WG in the Late 1960s
During the late 1960s, we had picked up some winter business for Magnolia by making ladle brick for Drexel Refractories. Lynn Morrison, a young ceramic engineer with prior experience at Harbison-Walker, was manager of the Drexel refractories operation. Lynn and I got along well. I asked Lynn, if he left Drexel, to consider WG. About …
Low Duty Refractories and Modernization – John’s Story Continues
I felt WG had a real need for a ceramic engineer. My focus on this need sharpened whin in the late 1960s, WG shipped paving brick, quite unfit for their intended use, for a large job at Indiana University. Many of the pavers failed due to freeze-thaw cycles. Such failures were typical of the extruded …
Structural Stoneware
Structural Stoneware prospered for decades, but ran into trouble when it could not duplicate the unique tile was a fast firing process. The company ended up with two product lines and failed about five years later. Dan then established a successful business as a tile installation consultant and lived happily with his second wife, Lori, …
John Jr. Marries Pauline Frey – 1954
John Jr. married Pauline Frey in 1954. We had three children during this period, Lynn, Janet and John III. We lived in Waynesburg at the house across from the mansion known as the Hunt Club. The name came from its use as a social center for the fox hunters before World War II. My father …
JB, DD, Art Estep and John Whitacre Jr
JB successfully completed building equipment to impressively improve the dimensional accuracy, appearance and reduce the labor cost of forming clay hot tops. This machine took several years to design and build. It made a solid contribution to the earnings peak in the 1950s. Following 1963, JB and Mary spent more time in their home in …
John Whitacre Jr’s Story Continues
In 1999, John Whitacre Jr. fell from his horse Colby breaking his lumbar vertebra. While recuperating he recorded the history of Whitacre Greer. This continues his story: Harold Hamilton, Richard Cascioli, Angelo Rugani, Pat Longo and many I have failed to mention all grew up in this period, most worked over 40 years for WG, …
Hobbler, Hostetler, Dagenhard and Hatfield Help Build WG
Bob Hobbler replaced Steve Haw in selling refractory products. Grace and Vernon Hosteler came to WG and for many years, did the bookkeeping and accounting. John Dagenhard was pitching for the National League Boston Braves under Casey Stengel before Dagenhard’s career ended with World War II. John was called up from Hartford with a first …
John’s Story Continues… DeLuca and Longo Recognized
John’s Story Continues: Bill DeLuca replaced Steve as plant manager at Waynesburg and Madison. Visiting Madison one day, we were typically short of employees. I had notices many migrant worker camps in Lake County and went to one in search of employees. A very professional personnel manager talked with us, saying, “Let me think this …
