Anchor Hocking

Anchor Hocking Company is a manufacturer of glassware. The Hocking Glass Company was founded in 1905 by Isaac Jacob (Ike) Collins in Lancaster, Ohio, and named after the Hocking River. That company merged with the Anchor Cap and Closure Corporation in 1937.

From 1937 to 1983, the company operated the oldest glass-manufacturing facility in the United States, established in 1863, in Salem, New Jersey. Anchor Hocking's wine and spirit bottles were crafted at a factory in Monaca, Pennsylvania. It also had facilities in Elmira, New York, and Streator, Illinois.

The company was the sponsor of the radio drama Casey, Crime Photographer. It was also slated to sponsor television's first late-night talk show, The Don Hornsby Show, before Hornsby suddenly died shortly before its debut.

Anchor Hocking and their headquarters in Lancaster, Ohio, are a focus of Brian Alexander's February 2017 book Glass House.

Corporate history


In 1905, the Hocking Glass Company was founded by Isaac Jacob (Ike) Collins in Lancaster, Ohio, and named after the Hocking River. In 1937, that company merged with the Anchor Cap and Closure Corporation, thus becoming Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation.

In 1934, Hocking Glass and a subsidiary, General Glass, developed the first nonreturnable beer bottle, considered a significant development in the field.

In 1987, the Newell Company acquired Anchor Hocking Corporation.

In 2004, Newell Rubbermaid sold Anchor Hocking to New York City-based Global Home Products, LLC, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management LP.

When Global Home Products declared bankruptcy in 2007, Anchor Hocking was sold to Monomoy Capital Partners, who merged Anchor Hocking with Oneida in 2012 and created EveryWare Global. In January 2014, EveryWare Global announced its plans to close its regional office and the Oneida outlet store, both in Sherrill, New York, with the process starting in April. The original Oneida outlet store in Sherrill, New York, was closed April 26, 2014. EveryWare Global filed for bankruptcy in 2015. EveryWare Global was renamed The Oneida Group in 2017.

In June 2021, Oneida Consumer LLC, including the Oneida brand, was acquired by Lenox Corporation. Reflecting its remaining activities, in July 2021, The Oneida Group was renamed to Anchor Hocking Holdings, Inc.

Locations
Most of the original Anchor Hocking glass container plants then operating were "spun off” in 1983 to form the newly created Anchor Glass Container Corporation, with headquarters in Tampa, Florida. A wide variety of glass containers for many types of foods, beverages, and other products was produced. AGCC filed for bankruptcy in 2011. Their "stylized anchor" trademark logo, which consists of two angular letter, G oriented back-to-back (or “mirrored” ) was registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on February 19, 1985. Anchor Glass Container has manufacturing facilities in China; Tampa, Florida; Jacksonville, Florida; Warner Robins, Georgia; Lawrenceburg, Indiana; Henryetta, Oklahoma; Shakopee, Minnesota; and Elmira, New York.

In March 2021, Anchor Hocking's Monaca, Pennsylvania factory was sold to Austrian manufacturer Stölzle Glass.

Depression glass
The company was a major producer of Depression glass. The first glassware produced as Anchor Hocking Glass Company was Royal Ruby in 1939. In addition, Anchor Hocking produced Forest Green Glass and Fire-King and Anchor Ovenware.