Our Journey From Past to Present

“Tanglefoot” is the story of two cities connected by their history. In the rolling hills of New Detroit, later to become Crystal City, was discovered one of the purist deposits of silica sand in the world. It was the availability of the silica sand that attracted the American Glass Company to locate here in 1871. In 1876, the American Glass Company was purchased by the Crystal Plate Glass Company and the town was eventually renamed Crystal City.

In 1895, the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company (PPG), with headquarters located in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, purchased the glass making operation and the “company town” that had grown up around the plant. The Crystal City facility went on to become the largest plate glass factory in the world and the only one west of the Mississippi River. At one time, over 3,000 people were employed making plate glass for windows, automobiles and airplanes; and the glass was shipped around the world.

Crystal City was a typical “company town” because PPG not only owned the glass making facility, but also most of the homes and the infrastructure that supported the people of the city. After the city was incorporated in 1911, the company continued to be responsible for the support of the fire department, the school and other important services, as well as prohibiting certain establishments from operating in the city. The Pittsburg Plate Glass Company wanted the town to be an idyllic place to work and live. The company and the town were governed by rather strict Englishmen who were members of the Episcopalian Church. They prohibited the manufacturing, storing and selling of alcoholic beverages in Crystal City.

Now imagine working a twelve-hour shift around the tanks in which the molten glass was made. They say that the Pot House was so hot that men were only allowed to work there for a short time before having to go outside the building. Can you imagine the kind of thirst a man could work-up in those conditions?

A short distance to the west of Crystal City, just beyond the marshy low-lands of the flood plain, was a place known as “Haefnerville,” later it would become the City of Festus. This area was blessed with some of the best deposits of clay in the entire area. The clay attracted some brick makers to locate here and produce bricks for the new buildings that were to be built. 

In “Haefnerville,” there were few, if any, regulations placed on businesses. Businesses thrived in this atmosphere and produced goods that were needed by people living in the surrounding area. One such business was operated by an Italian immigrant by the name of Giovanni Delaporta who made fine handmade furniture. He also possessed the skills of an architect and he began to design buildings, to be made of the red bricks, for the main street of the thriving city. His trademark was a tear-drop design on the parapets of the two-story brick buildings he designed. Many of these historic buildings constructed in the 1880’s still line Main Street.

Soon, Haefnerville was a bustling town with businesses lining Main Street. Included among the business were eleven (11) taverns that provided a place to gather after work and have a thirst quenching drink – or two. When the work shift ended at the plate glass plant, many workers would begin the short trek from the glass factory to “Haefnerville” for a drink. The mostly swampy area between the two towns was known for the tenacious mud that the workers had to wade through.  The workers walk through the mud and briars that would sometimes be so thick that they could get tangled up in the mess. This area between the two towns would become known as “Tanglefoot” because, especially after a few drinks, men would get their feet “tangled up” going home. Someone watching this spectacle is said to have exclaimed that the person was a “tanglefoot” or his feet were in a state of “tanglefoot.”

The town was known as “Tanglefoot,” for approximately one year, but the story remains part of the local folklore to this day. Soon, townspeople chose the more respectable name “Limitville” for their thriving town. Still, townspeople were searching for a name with real meaning for the community. It was decided by a group of civic leaders that the new name would be chosen from the Bible. History tells us that the wife of one of the businessmen was blindfolded and asked to open the Bible, move her finger down the opened page and stop. The closest name to where her finger was pointing would be the new name of the city. The name to which she pointed was that of Porcius Festus, a Roman official in Judea in 58 AD, whose name is found in the Book of Acts, Chapters 24 and 25. The City of Festus became an incorporated municipality in 1887.

Over one-hundred years later, the “Twin Cities” of Festus and Crystal City are bound together by their history and common interests. This special bond has been strained more than once, but our futures are forever intertwined. The police and fire departments are frequently called upon to provide mutual aid to one another. Following the devastating floods of 1993 and 1995, the “Twin Cities” worked together to construct a flood protection levee on the Plattin Creek near the Mississippi River and a new sewage treatment facility that serves both communities. Whether during community celebrations, such as Twin City Days or battling floods and fires, the two towns are forever bound together by “Tanglefoot.”