Bacon & Van Buskirk Glass Co. marks 75th anniversary

Bacon & Van Buskirk Glass Co., headquartered in Champaign, Ill., will mark its 75th anniversary this fall. Thecompany, currently led by President Rod Van Buskirk, was founded by his grandfather, Verne F. Van Buskirk, in 1937.

Bacon & Van Buskirk's origins can be traced back to 1927, whenVerne Van Buskirk left the family farm to find work in the glass department ofT.M. Bacon & Sons located in downtown Champaign, in 1927.In 1937, T.M. Bacon retired and sold the glass department to Verne, who partnered and formally incorporated Bacon & Van Buskirk Glass Co. as a Delaware corporation in 1947 with one of T.M. Bacon’s sons, Noah Bacon. In 1955, Bacon passed away, and the Van Buskirk family has since wholly owned and operated the company through three generations.

In 1952, Roy V. Van Buskirk, Verne’s son, began working full-time at Bacon & Van Buskirk, which significantly expanded under his leadership.In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the company became a regional wholesale glass distributor for PPG Industries and Libbey-Owens-Ford Co. Bacon & Van Buskirk purchased Therion Glass of Danville, Ill., in 1966, and added other Illinois retail and commercial branch locations in Springfield, Bloomington, Peoria, and also in Delray Beach, Fla., in the 1970s.

Led by current president Rod Van Buskirk, today, Bacon & Van Buskirk is a full-service residential glass and commercial glazing specialty subcontractor in Central Illinois and West Central Indiana with locations in Champaign and Springfield, Ill. The company offers residential and commercial glass and window products and services, including retail glass products and services, residential window replacement, custom shower and tub enclosures, custom mirrors, wholesale glass sales, commercial glass service, and contract glazing for new construction and renovation. As a contract glazing company, Bacon & Van Buskirk has furnished, installed and maintained the windows for many of Central Illinois’ landmark buildings.

Current President Rod Van Buskirk, past chairman of the National Glass Associationandformer board member of the Glass Association of North America, is a frequent contributor to glassblog and Glass Magazine. Read his most recent "Fenestration Hallucination" blog here.