Bryce Brothers descendants to speak at Mt. Pleasant Glass Museum

It was one of those “small world” sort of Mt. Pleasant moments.

In fall 2013, while previewing the apartment she currently leases in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, Maggie Knowles spotted an item on the mantle belonging to Jason Busch, the tenant at that time, which reminded her of her roots, she said.

It was an object made by the Bryce Brothers Company, which produced hand-blown glass in Mt. Pleasant from 1896 to 1965, for the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle at the opening of the 1962 World's Fair, Knowles said.

“I thought it looked like something made by Bryce Glass, and it was,” she said.

Knowles and her cousin, Harley N. Trice, are descendants of the two Bryce families who lived in the mansions on the hill above the company's glass factory in Mt. Pleasant, said Cassandra Vivian, executive director of the Mt. Pleasant Glass Museum.

The museum was established to celebrate the history and heritage of Bryce Brothers Glass and the area's two other former glass companies, L.E. Smith and Lenox Crystal.

After Knowles moved into the apartment, she learned Trice previously presented that very glass item to Busch in 2011 when he served as curator of the exhibit “Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs, 1851-1939” at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

In turn, Trice eventually gave a replica of the item to Knowles, which she keeps on display in the same living space.

“Those glasses were made when Maggie's grandfather, Robert Holt, was president of Bryce Brothers, so she really has a connection to them,” he said.

Knowles and Trice plan to share such anecdotes and other tales from their family's travails and community involvement throughout the years as the featured speakers of the latest installment of the museum's 2015 Speaker Series.

The event will take place at 7 p.m. April 21 at the facility, 402 E. Main St. (Route 31), Suite 600, at the Mt. Pleasant Glass Center in Mt. Pleasant Township.

Admission will be $3.

“I think a factory is more than a building, it's the people who work in it, and the Bryce family was a part of this community, and they lived and worked in this community and contributed to it,” Vivian said.

Family has significant local line

The story of the Bryce family and their passion for hand-blown crystal began when the patriarch, James Bryce, came to America with his father in the early 19th century, Vivian said.

After a stint in Philadelphia, she said, the family arrived in Pittsburgh in 1820.

James Bryce joined his father working in the Bakewell factory, Vivian said.

He eventually married Elizabeth Hough, and the couple had 11 children, she said.

Four of them were sons who all became a part of Bryce Brothers Company in various roles, Vivian said, including J. McDonald Bryce, Trice's great-grandfather; and S. Allen Bryce, Knowles' great-great-grandfather.

The Bryce men managed the various interests of the factory in Mt. Pleasant, a showroom in New York, and even abroad, while the women of the family were active in a number of area communities, she said.

“The family is very proud of their involvement in the glass industry in Mt. Pleasant, and it is so wonderful to have a tangible legacy of the company with the beautiful glass that remains,” Knowles said.

Speakers have differing delineations

J. McDonald Bryce was one of the founders of Bryce Brothers Company and its president from 1909 to 1919, when he died, Vivian said.

“He built the mansion that burned in spring 2010,” she said.

His son, Gerard, became the company's fifth president after the death of his father and two of his uncles, Vivian said.

S. Allen Bryce became the fourth president of Bryce Brothers in 1922, she said.

His son, Kirk Redman Bryce, and Kirk's wife, Marion Boyer Bryce, and the couple's four children — Boyer, Elizabeth, Jane and Margaret — lived in the second Bryce Mansion that still stands on Orchard Hill near the borough, Vivian said.

Bryce men, women adopted unique roles

In addition to the job as president, the Bryce men held various other positions in the factory, she said.

John Bryce was a designer, while Kirk Bryce, who was involved in marketing, Vivian said.

“Individual men created or promoted changes in the factory and new products in the line,” she said.

They also carried great influence in the glass world, Vivian said, including Marion G. Bryce, who served as president of Western Glass and Pottery Association and the Pittsburgh Foreign Trade Commission.

The Bryce women also played a greater role than one would expect for the time, Vivian said.

“One of (Kirk Bryce's) secretaries remembers how he would take home new prototypes of patterns for the family to see and comment on,” she said. “If the women found them impractical or did not like the design they were often scrapped.”

As for the Bryce family role in the community, they were involved with the Boy Scouts of America, the churches and a number of local and county social clubs, Vivian said.

“Perhaps the townsfolk can tell us more. Bring your photos, mementos, and stories to share, and come enjoy an evening of reminiscing about the famous glass factory, and its owners,” she said.

Duo prepares for event

As it relates to the community contributions and social lives of their ancestors, both Knowles and Trice agreed they have some preparing to do for the upcoming speaking engagement at the museum.

“The museum is just as much about the people who worked at Bryce as it is about the family, so combining the history of the glass company with the history of Mt. Pleasant is important,” Trice said.

One detail he plans to discuss involves an instance of family lore involving his grandmother, Elsie Bryce Heard, being the first licensed female automobile driver in Pennsylvania and a participant in shooting lessons locally with Annie Oakley, he said.

Knowles said she will draw heavily from a journal she inherited from Kirk Bryce, her great-grandfather, which contains his childhood musing of a trip taken to the original family homestead in Scotland.

“I hope to meet anyone who may have been involved with Bryce Brothers at the upcoming museum program, and I would love to hear their stories,” she said.

A.J. Panian is an editor for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-547-5722 or apanian@tribweb.com.