Stained Glass

Henry Keck

Henry Keck Stained Glass Studio, Syracuse, New York created the stain glass windows of the First Presbyterian Church of Van Wert, Ohio, with the exceptions listed below.

Henry Keck studied glass design at the Royal Academy School of Industrial Art in Munich Germany and in 1913 opened his own business in Syracuse, New York. In the 1920’s, the Studio hired Stanley Worden with his skills also elevating to a master stained glass artist. While many other studios closed during the 1930s, the Henry Keck Stained Glass Studio’s reputation for initiative design aided in sustaining their business until 1974 which was 18 years after Henry’s own death in 1956.

The Henry Keck Stained Glass Studio window design includes bright pure colors, mild facial tones, dense leaded outlines featuring realism, and figures within the glass appear to portray emotion.

The book, “Henry Keck Stained Glass Studio 1913-1974” by Cloeta Reed, p140, has the following quote regarding of our balcony windows: “Stanley Worden believes this was the largest and finest set of windows the studio ever made.”

This book lists our church window purchases (including those of Scott Chapel) starting in 1939 and ending in 1956.

R. Toland Wright Studio

R. Toland Wright Studio in Cleveland, Ohio created the Saint Paul Window and the Chancel Windows.

One of our members recalled his father talking about being 13 years of age when his grandfather drove to Cleveland around 1926 to pick up one of these sets of windows. They drove a “Maxwell” automobile while transporting the windows back within the rumble seat.

R. Toland Wright was born in 1887 and first thought of creating stain glass windows at age 18 while a designer within a printing firm.

One of the most quickly completed works of R. Toland Wright was the Saint Paul Kemper Memorial Window within our church. The contract was signed in May of 1927 and the stain glass window completed just three months later. The R. Toland Wright Studio continued until his death in 1934.

Von Gerichten Studios

The Saint Stephen window and along with the Elisha / Joseph & Jacob windows are from the Von Gerichten Studios of Columbus, Ohio. The Von Gerichten studio, later known as the Capital City Art Glass Company also had a studio in Munich Germany with the studios creating roughly 1800 stained glass windows within churches in the United States. The Columbus studio closed during the 1930’s.