THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



JANUARY, 1892 



RECENT ADVANCES IN THE POTTERY INDUSTRY. 



By EDWIN ATLEE BAKBEK. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN INDUSTRIES SINCE 

 COLUMBUS. XL 



THE revelations of the Centennial Exhibition set our potters 

 to thinking and stimulated them to greater competition. 

 Never before was such an impetus given to any industry. The 

 best productions of all nations were sent here and exhibited be- 

 side our own modest manufactures, and it was only too apparent 

 that America had been left behind in the race. Up to that time 

 there had been a few sporadic instances of attempts at originality, 

 but comparatively little had been accomplished of a really artistic 

 nature. The existence of a true ceramic art in this country may 

 be said to have commenced with the fair of 1876, because greater 

 progress has been made within the fifteen years which have 

 elapsed since that important event than during the two centuries 

 which preceded it. Let us see what rapid strides have been made 

 in this period. 



At the United States Pottery in Bennington, Vt., was a young 

 man, Mr. L. W. Clark, son of the superintendent, Mr. Decius W. 

 Clark, who, on the closing of that factory, accompanied his father 

 to Peoria, 111., and remained with the firm of Fenton & Clark for 

 about two years, when he left to enter the army. In 1875 he went 

 to Boston, and, in partnership with Mr. Thomas Gray, assumed 

 control of the New England Pottery. This establishment was 

 founded in 1854 by Mr. Frederick Meagher, who made Rockingham 

 and yellow ware. It was afterward taken by Mr. William H. 

 Horner, from whom the plant was purchased by the present pro- 

 prietors, who now produce the usual lines of useful services in 

 cream-colored and white granite ware. For the past five years 



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