Rise and fall of a family business.
Wuicker than they thought possible, people settled into the routine of everyday life. Children went to school, businesses started producing, tradesmen started arriving with their goods, markets were set up and people started buying, sampling, visiting neibors, attending church, having picnics. Dance parties were formed. New buildings were built, streets were made. The community came alive. The town was named, and became Gablonz nas Niess - The apple town on the river Niess. A new technology was invented,By the 1800's liquefaction of coal had been invented and used to fuel the kilns of the glasshuttes, along with trains pulling freight cars, so expensive logging operations could be discontinued and factories did not have to re-locate to new forested areas to continue their insatiable lust for wood to fuel their kilns. The Riedel family was the dominant glass producing family at this time who took advantage of the new technology being offered, and saw the end of the forest glassworks era and the beginning of the industrial era. The rest is history. Gablonz became a town, and grew large. Many glass huts were built either in town or in surrounding towns, until Gablonz became the glass center of the region, supplying the world. Names synonous with beautiful glass rose up, Zenker, Riedel, Swarovski, Wanderer. New creations were invented, like buttons, seed beads, lampwork, crystal, chandeliers, rhinestones, cabochons, were some of the new things, and a whole new industry was developed. Costume jewelry. The family was riding the wave. World war 1 came, and business came crashing down around them, and the whole valley took a beating. But no one gave up. They sacrificed, worked hard and longer, spent less, went without luxuries, depended on each other to survive, and for the most part they did. When the war ended, in 1918, the Austrian Empire was broken up, and the province of Bohemia became province of Bohemia of the new country Czechoslovakia. Gablonz stayed Gablonz. Nothing much changed for the family. Prague became the capital of the country and it was only two hours away, not 8 hours like Vienna. Business picked up. Glass beads and buttons were known around the world. The family, along with all the other ethnic German families in the area built large brick houses and factory warehouses. They became rich. They hired native Czech Slovaks as workers, or servants. They were riding high.
