The factory opened in 1865 as one building with a five-pot furnace, while large clay pots were made and cured in another nearby structure. It quickly expanded down the hill toward the old plank road between Honesdale and Hawley, and the first cutting shop opened in 1867-68 under the supervision of John S. O'Connor. Continued success led to the opening in 1883 of a large 150-by-40-foot bluestone glass-cutting building, followed in 1885 by a blowing shop and annealing oven added to the end of the cutting shop. After a disastrous 1892 fire destroyed most of the complex, the factory was completely rebuilt, and another blowing shop was added in 1901 next to the one built in 1885. Most of the glass made in White Mills was lead crystal, produced from high quality sand, lead oxide, and potash; the lead oxide made the glass soft enough to cut on stone wheels without breaking and gave it its sparkle. The factory produced colorless glass and colors including green, blue, ruby, cranberry, yellow, white, turquoise, amber, and poppy, using metallic oxides to create the desired color. Ingredients were melted at 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit in large clay pots over several days, and when ready, a shop of three to four men and boys gathered hot glass on the end of a hollow metal pipe so the blower could shape it in a two-piece wooden mold. The piece then went to a gaffer, who worked at a wood bench with long horizontal arms and, assisted by a servitor, transferred it from the blowpipe to a solid pontil rod, shaped the opening, and added handles, stems, and feet. As the glass cooled, it was reheated in the glory hole to keep it malleable. The lower factory furnace was first fueled with wood and later with gas produced from bituminous coal. An unknown gaffer shown with an apprentice about twelve years old reflects Christian Dorflinger's motto, "If you are big enough, you are old enough," a practice that lasted until Pennsylvania child labor laws took effect in 1897. A photo of Dorflinger workers taken before the 1890s shows many men in the back row holding their tools, and at its peak the company employed about 600 people.