1783 The Waterford Crystal story first begins in 1783 when George and William Penrose founded their crystal manufacturing business in the busy port of Waterford. They seized on the opportunity to produce “plain and cut flint glass, useful and ornamental” in their factory, which was situated in the heart of Waterford city. It was the enterprise and skill of these founders and their successors, which had such an impact for generations to come on the appreciation of glass, which is stronger today than when they began two centuries ago.