West Virginia played a big role in changes to bottle making, thanks to Point Pleasant native Michael Owens. In the early 1900s, he invented a machine that could make bottles automatically. He started his own company, Owens Bottle, in 1909, and later merged with Illinois Glass, with four factories in West Virginia that made bottles for everything from milk, to soda, to whiskey.

Unlike other types of glass that required skilled workers, bottle making used machines and, for the most part, less-skilled factory workers. While all the West Virginia plants are now closed, some are still in operation across the country.