Fenton Art Glass made many glass items at its Williamstown factory from 1907-2011, some of which were hand painted like these animals pictured at the 2024 Fenton Art Glass Collectors of America Convention in Marietta. (File Photo)

PARKERSBURG – Area residents have been producing goods and services to be shipped all over the world since they first arrived here in the 1700s.

Early residents arrived mostly by boats after traveling across the mountains to the east. They quickly began using the natural resources they found here to develop a commercial base beyond farming the land.

Shipbuilding was an early industry. Ocean-going crafts were constructed at several shipyards and sent down the river to be sold.

The abundant woodlands of the area provided the perfect resources with the first ship constructed being the 110-ton brig, the St. Clair, in 1800. Funded by Harman Blennerhassett and Dudley Woodbridge, the ocean ship was a long way from any open water when it was ready to sail in April of 1801.

Commodore Abraham Whipple was hired to sail the ship from Marietta, down the Ohio to the Mississippi and then to New Orleans, where he was to sell the cargo. Before he could make it all the way down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, first had to get it past the falls of the Ohio at Louisville. He turned the ship around and dragged two anchors as he backed the ship over the falls. He made it to the Gulf of Mexico and eventually to the east coast where he sold the ship before returning to Marietta. He proved that the Mid-Ohio Valley was a viable place to build large watercraft.

A variety of boat yards built not only ships, but also flatboats and later sternwheelers to be used on the nation’s inland waterways.

The area’s clay soil provided good raw material for another business that thrived in the areas – brickmaking. The area was once home to a variety of operations that not only made the bricks that built the roads, but also the houses and businesses along those roads. A century after they quit producing, it is not uncommon to see bricks marked Cisler, Marietta O. Cisler Brick was located near where Giant Eagle is today. Its bricks built many things that are still part of the community, including the nearby Marietta Elementary School.

The sandstone that forms area hills was the perfect raw material for the grindstone industry that once thrived here. The companies, many of which were based along the Ohio River valley between Marietta and Belpre, quarried and finished the round stones that were used to sharpen tools all over the country. Changing needs ended the demand for the stones that can still be seen scattered through the area.

Industrious citizens meant that at one time Marietta had a robust furniture manufacturing center with the Marietta Chair factory pushing a variety of furniture out to homes all over the country.

Fenton Art Glass in Williamstown was one of several Ohio Valley glass companies that made decorative glass while Corning Glass in Parkersburg produced glass for other uses.

As the area grew in population, the large available workforce became its most important raw material, and the area moved towards large scale production of goods.

Parkersburg, with the O. Ames Company, was once a giant tool producer. At one time, the area also produced marbles for wide-spread distribution.

Post-World War II factories have produced a variety of products that are used to build other things. Large companies such Union Carbide, Dupont and Shell constructed plants that produce plastic materials that are important parts of the nation’s manufacturing process, as well as ingredients that go into steel.

Workers at a B.F. Goodrich factory in Marietta went out on their own and developed a market for flexible magnets that still provide employment for workers at several different companies.

Area industry continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of consumers just as the generations before them did.

Art Smith can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com