Shakopee Plant History

In June 1960, ground-breaking commenced at this 33 acre site, which is located adjacent to Highway 101 and County Road 83 in Scott County, Shakopee, Minnesota. Plant construction was initiated by American Wheaton Engineering (Wheaton Glass Company, Millville, NJ). American Can Company became interested in glass container manufacturing and joined the Wheaton Glass Company. The new company, American-Wheaton Glass Company, was incorporated on June 23, 1960 in Trenton, NJ. The Wheaton Glass Company at that time retained only a ten percent interest. The first bottle was made at the Shakopee facility on May 22, 1961.

On March 15, 1962, American Can Company bought Wheaton’s ten percent interest, and the name was changed to A-W Glass Corporation. The plant was then operated as a subsidiary of American Can Company. On October 15, 1962, the name of this facility was again changed, and became known as American Can Company – Glass Division.

An announcement was released to the press on January 17, 1968, that American Can Company was discontinuing the ownership of their glass container facilities and agreed to sell those facilities and inventories to Midland Glass Company, Inc. The actual transfer of assets was effective on April 1, 1968. This facility operated as Midland Glass Company until February 29, 1984, when Anchor Glass acquired Midland Glass. At that time, Midland operated five manufacturing facilities: Shakopee, MN, Cliffwood, NJ, Henryetta, OK, Warner Robins, GA., and Terre Haute, IN.

In September 2006, Anchor Glass Container was acquired by Wayzata Investment Partners, a Wayzata, MN based investment group. Anchor Glass Container has been based in Tampa, Florida since 1983. It is primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of glass containers for the liquor, beer, juice and food industries, and operates eight glass plant locations thoughout the United States.

SHAKOPEE TODAY

  • In operation 43 years and is Minnesota’s only remaining glass container plant.
  • Employs 290 Minnesotans
  • Recycles 45,362 tons of container glass per year.
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    Shakopee’s No. 1 tank has a melt rate of 330 tons per day, and the No. 2 tank has a melt rate of 310 tons per day. There are three shops running off of each tank, packing over 500 tons per day, 7 days a week, 350 days a year. Tank 2 has been rebuilt and enlarged with state of the art technology.

    The plant is located within a 30-minute drive from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The Valley Industrial Park is famous for Canterbury Park (a pari-mutuel horse racetrack), Valleyfair Amusement Park and Mystic Lake Casino. This facility shares environmental responsibility through participation in a very active and worthwhile glass container-recycling program, instituted in 1970.

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