Anchor Hocking first came into existence when Isaac J. Collins and six friends raised $8,000 to buy Lancaster Carbon Company, Lancaster, Ohio in 1905.

The development of a revolutionary machine that pressed glass automatically would save the company when the Great Depression hit. The new machine raised production rates from one item per minute to over 30 items per minute. When the 1929 stock market crash hit, the company responded by developing a 15-mold machine that could produce 90 pieces of blown glass per minute. This allowed the company to sell tumblers "two for a nickel" and survice the depression when so many other companies vanished.