An exhibit featuring many rare pieces by American and Peoria Pottery companies will be on view until March 21 at the Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences.
The City of Peoria, advantageously located on the Illinois River, was already an industrial and commercial hub for the state when an extensive railroad system developed throughout Illinois in the late 1850s and 1860s. Once connected to Eastern communities as well as vast Western territories, Peoria became a warehouse and manufacturing district.
City officials actively sought businesses to move to Peoria and further boost the local economy. American Pottery Company, forerunner of Peoria Pottery Company, was among the several factories that opened in Peoria during this expansive period prior to the Civil War.
Illinois appealed to pottery manufacturers because of its abundant and high-quality clay deposits for earthenware and stoneware production, convenient water and coal supplies and effective river and rail transportation options. In 1858, the Illinois Central Railroad sent samples of fine-grained clay found along their lines to several East Coast potters, including Christopher W. Fenton (1808-1865) of the United States Pottery Co. (1849-1858) in Bennington, Vt.
The United States Pottery Company had a national reputation for quality household and ornamental wares made in several types of clays and with popular glazes. It was the first American pottery to produce Parian ware and held a patent on a flint enamel glaze known as “Fenton’s Enamel.” The firm had exhibited examples of its wares at the Crystal Palace exhibitions in London, 1851, and New York City 1852, yet it was failing financially in 1858.
Decius W. Clark, superintendent of United States Pottery Company, experimented with the Illinois clay sample and recognized it to be a quality stoneware clay, superior to many fine English samples. Fenton decided to close his business in Vermont and open “an immense pottery … designed to give employment to one thousand operatives” somewhere in Illinois where he would have superior clay and access to an improved freight system for shipping.
Fenton expected to save $56,000 per year on Illinois coal compared with costs in Vermont where he had to ship coal a considerable distance. So he advertised a stock offering in the new American Pottery Company through newspapers in Alton, Bloomington, Chicago, Peoria, Quincy and Springfield. A committee of Peoria businessmen responded by paying Fenton a visit in July 1859 and convinced him to relocate to their city; perhaps the fact that old Fort Clark (1813-1817) in Peoria was named for Clark’s father, General George Rogers Clark, clinched the deal.
Construction for the American Pottery Company began in October 1859. The pottery was designed in the shape of a large six-spoked wheel with the offices located in the center hub, the workshops in the “spokes” and the kilns along the outer rim between the spokes. The first firing, in June 1860, produced the saggers and other kiln furniture necessary to fire vessels.
Clark and Daniel Greatbach, a famous mold maker from England, accompanied Fenton to Peoria. By 1861, the factory employed about 60 men making a wide variety of utilitarian and ornamental wares, including cream-colored dining and tea ware, whitewares and toilet sets for sale throughout Illinois and adjoining states.
Despite initial success, American Pottery Company never completed its ambitious building plans and suspended work in early 1863. Another business, Peoria Pottery Company owned by John Bryner and William Travis, was operating in a portion of the American Pottery Co. building, making utilitarian wares for commercial and domestic use. Bryner and Travis bought the American Pottery Co. property and equipment, which included molds from decorative wares that Greatbach had designed in Vermont and brought to Illinois.
Peoria Pottery Co. suffered occasional setbacks, including at least one fire around 1871. Tobias S. Bradley, business investor and husband of Lydia Moss Bradley (founder of Bradley University) purchased the company in 1864; Mrs Bradley remained involved in the business until 1885. She invested heavily in Peoria Pottery and attempted to rebuild the pottery using the original plans from American Pottery Co. Peoria Pottery employed an average of 50 workers throughout the year, producing, for example, 300,000 flowerpots in one week.
Peoria Pottery Co. prided itself on a dark brown glaze it called “Peoria glaze.” This variation on “Albany slip” is high in iron content. The company also used traditional salt glazing on utilitarian crocks and jugs and a mottled brown Rockingham glaze, named for the Marquis of Rockingham, who owned a pottery manufactory in Swinton, England.
Most rdf_Descriptions produced by the Peoria Pottery Co. are marked by the manufacturer and/or for the company that commissioned them. Peoria Pottery Company marked their wares with “Peoria Pottery” or “Peoria Illinois” and the later pieces produced for the hotels have an “Ironstone Warranted” mark on the underside.
The museum is at 1125 West Lake Avenue. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, Wednesday to 8 pm and Sunday, noon to 5 pm. For information, 309-686-7000 or www.lakeview-museum.org.
