THE MUSEUM OF CERAMICS WILL BE CLOSED SATURDAY, JANUARY 21st, DUE TO A WINTER STORM
***The Museum of Ceramics will be closed Saturday January 21st due to a winter storm***
Events:
The dates for the Ohio Valley China Collectors Convention have been set for June 21-23, 2012 in East Liverpool. Some of the details and speakers are yet to be determined, but the registration form is now online at the OVCC webite - click here.
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The noted industrial designer and ceramics artist Eva Zeisel died on Friday, December 30th, in New York City. She had just turned 105 on November 13th. She created many dinnerware designs for Hall China. Her work has been on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Brohan Museum, Germany; and many other museums throughout the world. We are all deeply saddened by her passing. She has recently written a memoir about her years in a Soviet prison. Read an excerpt HERE
Welcome
The Museum of Ceramics contains thousands of examples of pottery created in and around East Liverpool, Ohio. During the 19th and 20th centuries, East Liverpool was known as the Pottery Capital of the USA.
1839: English potter James Bennett establishes first commercial pottery in East Liverpool, using local clay to produce yellow ware and Rockingham
1840: the first of the Harker potteries is established, which would continue to exist until 1972
1840s: influx of immigrants from Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, England, to work in the potteries in East Liverpool
1847: Jabez Vodrey moves to East Liverpool
1870s: easy access to superior clay allows whiteware to become the main product of the East Liverpool potteries
1870: Knowles Taylor Knowles pottery is created
1870: population of East Liverpool is 2,000
1871: Homer Laughlin China Company is formed in East Liverpool by Homer and Shakespeare Laughlin
1880s: KT&K, with 29 kilns, is the largest pottery in the USA
1892: KT&K introduces Lotus Ware, the finest porcelain ever produced in the USA. Production ended in 1896
1893: Lotus Ware wins multiple awards at the World's Fair in Chicago
1900: East Liverpool is known as "America's Crockery City" and more than 90% of wage earners in the area are involved in the pottery industry
1903: Hall China Company is formed
1907: Homer Laughlin moves across the Ohio River to Newell, WV
1909: East Liverpool Post Office is built, later to become the Museum of Ceramics
1910: population of East Liverpool is 20,000
1910: Tariffs removed on foreign imported pottery, marks the beginning of the decline of East Liverpool pottery industry
1929: Great Depression forces the closure of dozens of potteries
1929: KT&K closes
1970s: William H. Vodrey III spearheads plan of creating a museum in East Liverpool devoted to the history of the ceramics industry
1976: The old post office, soon to be Museum of Ceramics, is placed on the National Register of Historic Places
1980: The Museum of Ceramics is open to the public
2000: population of East Liverpool is 13,089
2008: Ohio Historical Society cuts funding for the Museum of Ceramics by 93%, and the Museum of Ceramics Foundation takes over management of the museum
2009: Museum celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the construction of our building
2010: Hall China Co. merges with Homer Laughlin China Co.
2010: 30th Anniversary of the founding of the Museum of Ceramics!!!
Museum Hours
Tuesday - Saturday 9:30am to 3:30pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
Adults $4 and Students/Children $2
Cleveland television show "Applause" highlights the Museum of Ceramics:
In 2008, the Museum of Ceramics lost almost all of its funding from the Ohio Historical Society. The Museum of Ceramics Foundation was immediately created to keep the museum open. Please consider making a donation today to enable the Museum of Ceramics to continue its work.
The Museum of Ceramics, 400 East Fifth Street, East Liverpool, Ohio 43920 Telephone: 330-386-6001 or 800-600-7180 ~ Email
ACCESS INFORMATION
The Ohio Historical Society strives to meet A.D.A. requirements. However, historic structures provide challenges that make it difficult to provide complete access to all visitors. At the Museum of Ceramics we are currently partially accessible. A wheelchair lift on the southeast corner of the building provides access to the Main Level, including many exhibits, the Gift Shop, and the Theater. There is no access yet to the museum's Lower Level except via a flight of stairs. The Museum's restrooms, located on the Lower Level, are not yet accessible for people who use wheelchairs. We apologize for the ways we are inaccessible; we are working to rectify these issues.
