Company History
Hub Glass Services Inc
Our History in the Making
Please read on to learn about the storied history of Hub Glass Services Inc. Call us for all your glass product and service needs!
Hub Plate Glass Company started in business in the late 1920s. In 1931, the original owners dissolved the business and the partners separated and started two different businesses. Julius Porter started Empire Plate and Window Glass Co Inc. Malcolm Carver and Sam Goldsmith started National Plate and Window Glass Co Inc. Both were union shops.
In 1944, George Carver, son of Malcolm Carver, graduated from high school and went on to attend Wentworth Institute. Upon graduation from Wentworth, George worked at National as a union glazier in the field and on the trucks until 1954.
In 1952, George and his wife, Frances Carver, purchased Sam Goldsmith’s half of the company.
The 1950s and 1960s
In 1954, Malcolm Carver died. Ownership of the business went to George, an only child. George was faced with relocating the business due to urban renewal in the West End. He purchased a small gas station (1,500 square feet) in Somerville and added a warehouse and a garage to store inventory, increasing the property to 3,000 square feet.
George ran the business until December 1, 1964, when he died of a heart attack at age 37. His wife was 35. At this time, the work force consisted of two glaziers, Charlie Goldsmith (Sam Goldsmith’s son) and Dennis McNamara, and a bookkeeper, Kay Salani.
Except for having knowledge of some of the customers her late husband dealt with, Frances was not a part of the business. With the help of Kay, Charlie, and Dennis, Frances took over the business.
It took quite a few months for Frances to absorb everything. In a small business, the proprietor wears many hats. Frances had to learn how to take calls and get the proper information, how to do the billing, and how to collect bad debts.
Frances met with suppliers, learned about their products, became familiar with their prices, and was able to quote prices to customers. She familiarized herself with insurance, union contracts, regulations, and other aspects of running a business.
National Plate Glass was mainly in the glass replacement business (replacing broken glass in storefronts for businesses that carried glass insurance). The bulk of their customers were the people in the claims department of the insurance companies, such as Royal Globe, Commercial Union, The Hartford, etc.
As a service to insurance companies, they did inspection reports for their newly insured customers. The inspections were done by the glaziers, if they had time, or by Frances on the weekends.
The company also serviced the glass replacement needs of several food chain stores, department stores, and utility companies in Boston and surrounding areas. The company also did replacement glass installations for other glass companies whose primary business was construction.
Along with the above, the company was very active in storefront renovations and sold tabletops, tub enclosures, storm windows, mirrors, etc.
When George was in the business, he measured the glass, sent the men on the job, and was able to lend a hand if they needed it. Since this was not Frances’ expertise, she needed another glazier and was fortunate enough to hire the president of the glaziers’ union, Jimmy Broderick, as her third glazier.
He was a very personable and knowledgeable man. When he wasn’t setting glass, he was on the road seeing customers. Charlie did the measuring. Frances took over the nighttime emergency calls.
There were times during the year that business dropped off, especially in the summer. Frances decided to learn how to bid jobs because construction usually took place during these slow months.
With Jimmy’s help, she learned to read blueprints. Frances started with small jobs that required a $100 bid deposit, which meant that they were about $2,000 a job.
The 1970s
Riots in the late 1960s and early 1970s kept National busy, as well as the bid jobs that Frances had won. The company earned a reputation for its quality of work, integrity, and honesty.
By the early 1970s, Frances had 4 full-time glaziers and Richard, her oldest son, working on the trucks during school while he attended Boston College. By this time, Frances had been running the business for 10 years. She had doubled her workforce by doing bid jobs, kept her old customers, and added many new ones.
Frances added new services and products as they presented themselves, such as auto glass installations, selling Plexiglas, Lexan, insulated units, tempered glass, tub enclosures, and laminated glass, to name a few.
In 1976, Empire Glass went out of business and Mr. Porter sent their customers to National. Along with Empire’s customers, National also acquired some of their glaziers. One of them was Henry Goldsmith (son of Charlie Goldsmith and grandson of Sam Goldsmith). Also at this time, Beth Carver (Frances’ oldest daughter) graduated from Boston College and joined the workforce. She helped out in the office, which had become busier than ever.
With the increase in business, Richard eventually came into the office to run the service department, and he also learned how to bid. It wasn’t long before Richard took on more of the responsibilities of the company. In 1986, Sharon (Frances’ youngest daughter) graduated from UMass Amherst and entered the business.
The 1980s
By the 1980s, they hired another bookkeeper and put Beth on the road. Construction was booming and Frances and Richard couldn’t keep up with the bidding, so they brought 2 men in from the field to help with the bidding and hired a full-time estimator for the filed sub-bid jobs.
This relieved Frances of the responsibility of all the bidding and freed her up to get bonding, review all the contracts that came in, negotiate jobs, and oversee all the paperwork that was required to efficiently run a larger glass company. At this time, the company became a woman-business enterprise (WBE) by the newly established State Office of Minority and Woman Business Assistance (SOMWBA).
The business they were doing remained the same as what Frances had established in the mid-1960s (just more of it). The service business kept them busy. With all the new buildings under construction, their service department grew as well as the auto glass replacement business. The large and small contracting departments were flourishing. Henry Goldsmith was made service manager and, once again, more glaziers were brought into the office to help bid and run jobs.
The 1990s
By the end of the 1980s, the company employed approximately 40 people. The early 1990s proved to be a struggle for the company after a number of construction firms went out of business owing National money.
During this period, the company restructured. As a result, some of the older men retired, others went to work for other glass companies, and some formed their own businesses. It was now 1991 and Frances was already 61 years old, near retirement age, but not quite ready to retire. With the help of the remaining glaziers, and at the request of their loyal customers, Frances, Richard, Beth, and Sharon ventured into business again.
The company reinvented itself as Hub Glass Services Inc. Frances made Richard president of the new company. With Richard at the helm, the company had overcome the adversity of the early 1990s by maintaining a strong service department and cutting down on contract glazing jobs.
Emergency replacements for service accounts were handled immediately, as they always had been. The service end of the business was always busy, even as the contract business dried up.
Our Company Today
Today, Hub Glass Services Inc employs approximately 20 people. We have been building up the contract glazing department again over the past 7 years. We have glazed many of the retail stores in Natick Mall, Square One Mall, Cambridgeside Galleria, Copley Place, Burlington Mall, and Providence Place.
We’ve also glazed tenant fit-ups in many of the local office buildings. These include jobs for KPMG, Fleet Bank Executive Office, I2 Technologies, Fidelity Investments, Bell Atlantic, and GTE.
We have glazed storefronts and entrances for Bloomingdale’s, BankBoston, Boston Public Library, and Northland Development.
We remain a union shop and WBE-, SOMWBA-, and Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM)-certified family business. Some of our estimators and glaziers have been with the company from 10 to 25 years. Our company continues to earn a sound reputation as a quality glass company built with honesty and integrity as a leader in specialty glass contracting jobs.
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