From Teacups to Toilets

From Teacups to Toilets (HM29V)

Location: Trenton, NJ 08611 Mercer County
Buy New Jersey State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 40° 11.914', W 74° 45.507'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 656 views
Inscription
Trenton burst forth as the premier pottery-producing center of the Eastern United States in the second half of the 19th century, the city skyline soon being dominated by the smokestacks of pottery kilns. Trenton's location as a transportation hub was key to the development of large-scale pottery manufacture in the city. Making use of the canals and railroads, clay and coal could be easily brought in to the factories and finished products could be conveniently shipped out. Potters from other American cities and England converged on Trenton to join companies producing new and high quality ceramic products for the rapidly expanding domestic market.

The first industrial potteries in the city - the works of James Taylor and Henry Speeler, the City Pottery, William Young & Sons' Excelsior Pottery, all established in the 1850s - produced mostly yellowwares and whitewares for household use. In the 1860s and 1870s, many of Trenton's largest and best-known potteries came into being - the Eturia Pottery of Ott & Brewer, Coxon & Company's Pottery, John Maddock & Sons Coalport Works and the Mercer Pottery - still mostly producing white tableware and hotel china, but of increasingly high quality. The 1880s and early 1890s saw diversification into other products, most notably sanitary earthenware, electrical porcelain and porcelain hardware, but an important specialty in porcelain sculpture and art pottery also emerged. It was during this period that the Ceramic Art Company, the predecessor of Lenox, Inc, was founded.

Although the industry was beset by labor disputes in the 1890s, it continued to grow apace, reaching close to 50 factories and over 5,000 employees by around 1910. Several changes in ownership and mergers took place in the 1920s, especially in the sanitary earthenware business, where the Crane Company and the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company (the predecessor of American Standard) came to prominence. Decline set in with the Depression and by the end of World War II less than 20 potteries were still in operation. Today, only a handful of ceramic manufacturing facilities survive, but Trenton china and sanitary earthenware abounds in households and museums across the country.

Links to learn more - Trenton City Museum (Ellarslie) in Cadwalader Park, Trenton; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton; Hill-Fulper-Stangl Museum, Flemington
Details
HM NumberHM29V
Tags
Year Placed2004
Placed ByNew Jersey Department of Transportation
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Thursday, October 9th, 2014 at 8:39pm PDT -07:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18T E 520558 N 4449824
Decimal Degrees40.19856667, -74.75845000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 40° 11.914', W 74° 45.507'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds40° 11' 54.84" N, 74° 45' 30.42" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)609
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 1251-1351 NJ-29, Trenton NJ 08611, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. This marker needs at least one picture.
  9. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  10. Is the marker in the median?