Shelley Moore Capito & David McKinley visit Wissmach Glass In Paden City

US. Senator Shelly Moore Capito and U.S. Congressman David McKinley stopped in Quinet’s Restaurant in downtown New Martinsville recently, met with constituents, had lunch and attended the Bel-O-Mar Regional Council’s quarterly meeting. While in the restaurant they were well received as they went from table to table shaking hands and answering questions.

Members of Bel-O-Mar received encouragement and offers of support from both legislatures concerning available funding for infrastructure projects around the country.

According to McKinley money is there for local, state and federal projects. He made note that the infrastructure bill is not related to the build back better bill, which has not passed.

“There is no social spending in this bill. That is in Build Back Better,”said McKinley. “We’ve waited long enough and we deserve this in West Virginia. We’re going to do better and we deserve better.”

Capito sated, “there is no better time” for local governments to take advantage of funding. We can help you.”

McKinley speaking to the Bel-O-Mar council said “God bless you all and thank you. You make West Virginia better.”

During the meeting the council passed a resolution of the Be-lo-mar Regional Council and Interstate Planning Commission Policy Committee. I was an official endorsement of a revision to the transportation improvement program. They also it’s budget for the fiscal year totaling over $500,000. The council provided a breakdown of their work program activity listing for FY 2023 showing most of the budget will be for improvements in the areas of transportation, short and long term planning, development, multi -modal safe and accessible options, public service projects and public transit planning.

Following the meeting McKinley and Capito traveled to Paden City, a short drive from New Martinsville to visit and tour the nearly 120 year old Wissmach Glass Co. factory. “Paul Wissmach Glass was founded in 1904, and has been a steady employer in the small community ever since. Over half of all glass they manufacture gets exported. Wissmach glass has a long standing relationship with numerous international customers.

Wissmach glass is high quality stained glass for use for fused glass artists, and by mosiac glass artists and hobbyists. It’s known world wide for it’s beautiful color mixes. Making glass is a hot business, both literally and figuratively. The factory has 14 brick furnaces that use natural gas to heat the limestone, soda ash and sand to 2,200 degrees F. (1,200 C). Different mixtures of ingredients create the colors. After heating, workers scoop the molten glass from the furnace and wheel it over to the glass press where a rollar presses it into one of the 18 patterns that the company produces. The glass then travels down a 125 foot conveyor through a temperature controlled kiln called a lehr.

The purpose of the Lehr is to anneal the glass, or slowly and evenly cool it, to give the glass its durability and to prevent shattering or heat related breaking. At the end of the conveyor, workers carefully remove the cooled sheet of glass and cut it to the appropriate size.

Owners of the Wissmach are Annabelle and Jason Javier originally from Pittsburg, Pa. They employ 35 employees. The Javier’s purchased the business in April 2021, from the Feldmeier family of Paden City, longtime owners of the business. It is located at the end of Stephen Street in Paden City directly below the high school.

The Javiers provided McKinley and Capito with a tour of the facility, icludeing views of the glass making process. Both legislators were impressed with the operation. Also in attendance was Beri Fox, president and CEO of the Marble King another Paden City factory known in the global marketplace for providing a top quality product at a competitive price. She credits much of Marble Kings success to the pride and craftsmanship of her employees. Marble King manufactures nearly i million marbles per day. They use all the scrap glass from Wissmach Glass.

Ed Parsons added to this story