Gay LeCleire Taylor discusses the history behind the brick stack in Wheaton’s glass Studio. Oral history interview with Gay LeCleire Taylor by Barb Elam, conducted via telephone, March 9, 2018, Bard Graduate Center. Clip length: 01:03.

Gay LeCleire Taylor: So this is a brick stack which has seven openings, would’ve had six openings for pots, historically. And, of course, they were little furnaces, but visually to the visitor, it looked like an historic stack with the arches that would’ve had pots behind, and the floor below would’ve had a draft of air coming through and the fire in the middle. Historically, a furnace would’ve had clay pots made, and the glass would’ve been melted in clay pots. And that was a real art and if you had a bubble in them, they could explode. By going to a furnace and making a brick furnace, it’s much easier to handle and everything else. So it was more a historic façade, so if you were a visitor it would have the image of what the original T.C. Wheaton Factory would’ve had, with the pot openings. But we had modern furnaces controlled by computers inside, hiding out.