The Cobbledick Glass Company (later L.N. Cobbledick Glass Company, and finally Cobbledick-Kibbe Glass Company) was started in 1891 by L.N. Cobbledick. It became one of the largest glass companies in Oakland.
Early in his career, L.N. worked at the Whittier-Fuller Company and learned the glass business. In 1891, he started his own business along with his brother James H. Cobbledick. The 1898 directory lists it as L.N. Cobbledick, successor to L.N. and J.H. Cobbledick.
Later it had a department devoted to manufacturing leaded art glass, and the mirror silvering plant was one of the biggest on the West Coast.
The company incorporated as L.N. Cobbledick Glass Company in 1905, with L.N. Cobbledick, William W. White, Charles J. Schuler, Arthur G. Lafleur, and W.H. Weilbye. 3
The first Cobbledick Glass Company Building was at 358 - 12th Street and sold paint, oils and wall paper. The next store was at 401 - 12th Street. After the 1906 Earthquake, they got rid of the paints and sold only glass and mirrors at 712-714 Broadway (between 3rd and 4th before 1912 renumbering). In 1912, they moved to 301-305 Washington near the Western Pacific Depot, in what had been the Mann and Mole planing mill.
By 1914, it was known as the Cobbledick-Kibbe Glass Company.
Links and References
- Greater Oakland 1911 by Evarts Blake Pacific Publishing Co. 1911
- Past and Present of Alameda County by Joseph Eugene Baker S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1914
- Papers Are Filed Oakland Enquirer February 11, 1905
