our roots

Creative Hite’s Stained Glass was born when Rebecca and Curtis Hite moved back to Missouri.  Using her degree in graphic arts, her artistic talents, and the skills developed with stained glass studios in Florida, Rebecca began her own private studio making custom windows and art.  She participated in craft shows, local art events, and juried shows.

While she was developing her business, Rebecca traveled all around the US to classes and to conferences with the goal of learning as much about stained glass science, skills, structure, and art as she could afford to attend. She even persuaded a few studio owners to do a one or two week apprenticeships where she paid them for on the job training!  Her goal was not only to be a good stained glass artist but to be as knowledgeable about her chosen art as she possible could.

With time, her business and reputation grew, and she was encouraged to teach others her skills.  She taught in various adult education settings and later extended the offer of private lessons in her home out in very rural Johnson County, Missouri to students wanting to develop beyond the “beginner” status.

To help her students find supplies and glass for their projects, Rebecca established accounts with stained glass wholesale houses.  She began to travel to the wholesale businesses to learn from experts and to attend their open house / education opportunities. At these venues, she was able to talk to the owners/developers of stained glass, supplies and tools.  Of course, she made it her goal to learn more about their product beyond the instruction sheets and to pick up as much general and industry knowledge from them as possible.  Lifelong friendships evolved giving Rebecca a valuable resource of knowledge to call upon to further enhance her knowledge and skills.

There came a time when the Hite household was more stained glass business and storage than it was house.  It was strongly suggested by Curtis Hite that the glass should find a new home. Rebecca took that idea and found an empty gas station on the edge of Lee’s Summit to turn into a stained glass retail store and teaching facility.  By reaching out to family, students, and customers to volunteer services and elbow grease, Rebecca and Curtis transformed a dilapidated, closed gas station into a light, welcoming home for stained glass arts. 

This facility became the birthplace of Stained Glass Station at the old Gas Station in 2004.  When the owners of the building removed the gas pumps and tore down the canopy, the name was shorted to just Stained Glass Station.  

By moving their base of operation from the rural, dirt road base to a retail space in Lee’s Summit, the business soon began to blossom.  Within a year, classes were full with a waiting list and the business employed full and part time employees. Business thrived during this time of a builder’s boom and general prosperity.  

When the lease was ready for renewal at the gas station, the current owners of the building were unwilling to effect repairs to the building or to even fix the building roof, so it was time to find a new location.  In 2009 Stained Glass Station moved to the Summit Shopping Center. Again, the space that was formerly a dry cleaner/laundry needed lots of improvement so with the help of friends and family and more elbow grease, the double space was opened up, a new floor laid down, skylights were installed, and sinks/cabinets added.  In the new busier location, Stained Glass Station benefited from increased visibility and walk in traffic.  

Stained Glass Station was destined to move once again when in 2016 the owners of Summit Shopping Center raised the rent to such a degree that the Station was faced with moving or closing the business.  Customers, students, and friends were so dismayed at the thought of losing the Station, that the decision was finally made to find a new location and continue serving the stained glass art community.

This time the Hite’s decided they were going to buy a permanent home rather than being at the mercy of landlord.  No more spending time and money improving another’s property. Any work this time would build equity as well as allow the building to work for the business.  A desire to stay in a rural and underserved area as well as finding a location that is easily accessible to the Kansas City Metro area led the Hite’s to an empty building being auctioned off in Oak Grove.  Impulse led Rebecca to raise her hand at the building auction and suddenly Rebecca and Curtis Hite owned a building!

After contacting builders and architects then recovering from the bad news about mold, rotten roof structures, inadequate wiring, leaky basement, floor reinforcement, roof reinforcement, and no room for road signage, Curtis and Rebecca once again rolled up their sleeves, courted banks for construction loans and began the process of turning another derelict building into an asset. 

In the meantime, the Summit Shopping Center demanded that either the lease on the current location be extended another 3 years at almost 40% raise in rents or the property be vacated.  Reluctantly, all the inventory of supplies, glass, tables, equipment, and general supplies had to be put into storage and the business went into hiatus until the new building was ready for occupation.  

Unfortunately, the building contractor was woefully and unreasonably optimistic about how much time would be needed to rehabilitate the building.  Instead of being closed for only six months, the business was absent for almost 2 years from the stained glass community. Rebecca maintained contact with customers and was able to help with questions and stained glass / fused glass problems by traveling to their homes.  But most of Rebecca’s energy was focused on making a beautiful, innovative center for the stained glass arts. Rebecca turned her artistic talents to creating new ideas for the building, working with the architect and codes administrator to turn her ideas into reality, and then educating the builders about how to make the ideas work.  In two cases, her ideas were so innovative that the local building codes had to be updated to accommodate the new technologies! The building slowly began to take shape, and through emails and Facebook, Rebecca kept in touch with her customers and shared the building experiences with them.  

Rebecca made sure the building exceeded all building codes and brought the building up to Americans With Disabilities Act standards.  The building is well insulated and is comfortable in all weather. The light, airy building is designed to show stained glass to best advantage and to provide a comfortable, inspiring location to learn/create glass art.

When the time came to finally re-open the business, the decision was made to also update the name and mission. 

In 2004, stained glass was very popular and fused glass was in its infancy.  Therefore, the name Stained Glass Station was appropriate. Then fused glass actually became more desirable and profitable than stained glass.  Many potential fusing customers thought from the name of the business that only stained glass supplies were sold.

To better reflect the true nature of the business, the name was changed to Creative Art Glass Station. The Station part of the name was kept to tie the new name to the old while informing the public that the business now dealt in more than stained glass.

While some customers still call the company Stained Glass Station, the new name is catching on and the more inclusive identity of Creative Art Glass Station has become well embraced.