McDade Pottery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 McDade Pottery in McDade, Texas, 1906 | |
| Industry | Pottery production |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1863 in McDade, Texas |
| Founder | Robert Lucius (R.L.) Williams |
| Defunct | 1942 |
McDade Pottery was the largest, longest-lived and most prolific of a series of potteries that manufactured utilitarian stoneware in Bastrop County, Texas, beginning in the 19th century.
The pottery is the most successful business ever to exist in the town of McDade.[1]
The first known pottery in Bastrop County was established by Matthew Duncan, also spelled Dunkin, in 1855 when he bought 10 acres on Alum Creek in the Bastrop Town Tract, now Bastrop State Park, to build a shop.[2] Following Duncan's death (1880), his business, Randolph Manufacturing aka Dunkin Jug Factory, was sold to Milton Stoker. Stoker moved the pottery to Marshy Branch on Yegua Creek, east of McDade, to be near a large source of high quality clay.[3]
Not long after, R.L. Williams left Greensboro, Pennsylvania, where he was born (1859), looking for employment. After a brief stay in Colorado, he found work at Elmendorf Pottery in San Antonio, Texas. On a visit to Austin for the capitol building dedication, he learned of Stoker Pottery. After visiting and demonstrating his skills, Stoker made him a better offer than he had at Elmendorf.[4] Williams started work there in 1888. By 1890, he owned 100% of the business and Stoker moved west.[1]
McDade Pottery
Williams relocated and expanded the business, renamed McDade Pottery, to a new plant on three acres with two beehive kilns, mule-driven clay-grinding equipment and rail access. The pottery initially produced utilitarian food storage and preparation vessels typical of the era: jugs, churns, crocks, pitchers and bowls. Over the years, ant traps, chicken waterers, ashtrays, novelty items, doorstops and flower pots were added.[5]
At first, the ware was wheel-thrown by individual potters. Williams threw the first piece on January 26, 1893, to celebrate the plant's opening.[5] Initially, Williams also did most of the work: preparing the clay; throwing, glazing and firing pots; and then hawking the vessels at roadside stands, nearby gas stations and even door to door. As the business grew, he started shipping carloads of ware by train to Austin and Houston[1] from the rail spur at the plant, while trucks carried the products into adjoining states and possibly beyond. In 1894, the pottery employed at least 20 people, including family members.[4]
The ceramics were initially salt-glazed. In this method, salt is tossed into the kiln toward the end of the firing cycle, where it vaporizes and settles on the ware, creating a shiny surface with a distinctive "orange peel"[6] texture.[4] Later, Bristol glaze, a feldspathic off-white glaze incorporating zinc oxide,[7] or a combination of Bristol glaze (bottom of ware) and Albany slip, an iron-rich chocolate brown slip-glaze[8] (top of ware), were employed.
In 1909, hard times in McDade forced Williams to engage in bartering to distribute pottery. To facilitate this mode of commerce, he, M. Benson and H.R. Cain established a private firm, McDade Mercantile Co. (The building is now part of the McDade Historical Museum.) The business' goal was to sell merchandise for a span of 50 years. Williams' wife Annis and son Albert Paine managed the store, often trading stoneware for produce, eggs and bacon proffered by the penniless.[4]
Ceramic press
On July 13, 1909, Williams was granted U.S. Patent 927,622 for a "press to form hollow articles."[9] A seeming predecessor to today's ram press, the apparatus could be fit with variously sized dies to rapidly manufacture flowerpots and other hollow ware.[5]
The invention consisted of a vertical frame with a horizontal table supporting a mold (die). Fed through the frame's crossbars was a rod with attached plunger. In operation, a hand-turned wheel was spun to lower the plunger, pressing a ball of clay into a mold. The plunger stopped short of the mold bottom to form the pot base. A flange at the top of the plunger contacted the mold top to form the upper edge of the ware. When the plunger was raised, the formed clay object could be removed.[9]
The resulting flowerpots, as well as birdbaths, lawn vases and hanging baskets,[10] were shipped by freight car to nurseries and florists throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.[5] During the pottery's heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, tens of thousands of molded flowerpots were sold every year.[1]
The Champion Charcoal Ironing Furnace
The Champion Charcoal Ironing Furnace was an ingenious and popular product manufactured with the patented press. Williams' received a second patent, U.S. 981,731, on June 6, 1911, for a "Furnace-forming die."[11]
Marketed as "The Housewife's Friend," the portable coal- or coke-fired ceramic "stove" was used to heat flat irons, cook food, and to warm the feet of buggy riders and mail carriers on cold days.[12] Since the furnace was portable, it found widespread use during canning season, when it could be moved to the backyard to prepare preserved fruits and vegetables.[13]
The appliance was basically a ceramic bucket, often clad in tin with a looped wire handle, and featured a grate that allowed air flow through a ventilation hole below.[13] It came in seven sizes, with or without legs, and retailed for $0.55 to $1.40, depending on the model.[12]
Customers who bought Champion brand coal received the furnace free of charge. Thousands of furnaces were shipped across Texas and nationwide until the arrival of gas and electric stoves. In 1937 alone, 20,000 were distributed.[4]
