COLUMBIANA COUNTY OHIO - HISTORY PART 11 (published 1898) *********************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. *********************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Gina M. Reasoner AUPQ38A@prodigy.com March 25, 1999 *********************************************************************** HISTORICAL COLLECTION OF OHIO, by Henry Howe, LL.D., 1898 EAST LIVERPOOL is on the Ohio river and a railway through the valley, the Cleveland & Pittsburg river division, 48 miles west of Pittsburg and about 100 miles southeast of Cleveland. It is very pleasantly located in the midst of the bold, picturesque scenery of the upper Ohio. It was first settled by Thomas Fawcett, who came from Pennsylvania about 1799. The name of St. Clair was given to the village after the township in which it was then situated, but it was called Fawcettstown for many years. In 1830 a post-office was established with the name of East Liverpool, to distinguish it from Liverpool in Medina county. From this time on the town gradually grew, and in 1834 the village of East Liverpool was incorporated. East Liverpool has 4 newspapers: Crisis, Dem., J.C. Deibrick, publisher; Evening and Weekly Review, Rep., W.B. McCord, publisher; Potter's Gazette, Rep., Frank Scrawl, publisher; Tribune, Rep., J.N. Simms, editor. Churches: Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Protestant, Evangelical Lutheran and St. John's German Lutheran. Banks: First National, Josiah Thompson, president, F.D. Kitchel, cashier. MANUFACTURES AND EMPLOYEES. -McNicol, Burton & Co., pottery ware, 113 hands; Burford Brothers, pottery ware, 59; Dresden Co-operative Co., pottery 222; S. & W. Baggot, pottery ware, 48; H. Brunt & Sons Co., flint and spar, 8; C.C. Thompson & Co., pottery ware, 205; Cartwright Brothers, pottery ware, 84; Croxall & Cartwright, pottery ware, 47; Knowles, Taylor & Knowles, pottery ware, 613; A.J. Bover, machine work, 14; Monroe Patterson, pottery machinery, 5; George Morely & Sons, pottery ware, 49; J. Wyllie & Son, pottery are, 66; Vodrey Brothers, pottery ware, 64; William Brunt, Son & Co., pottery are, 190; Homer Laughlin, pottery ware, 137; George Harker, pottery ware, 105; Friederick, Shenkle, Allen & Co., pottery ware, 50; Burgess & Co., pottery material, 22; East Liverpool Spindling Works, door-knob spindles, 13; R. Thomas & Sons, knob tops, 46; Wallace & Chetwynd, pottery ware, 101. -State Report for 1887. Population in 1880, 5,568. School census in 1886, 2,582; A.J. Surface, superintendent. The great feature of East Liverpool is its pottery industry. Being in the heart of a country rich in mineral and chemical deposits, it has grown to be the centre of the pottery interests of the United States. Although in the immediate vicinity of East Liverpool are valuable coal beds, most of its factories use natural gas. The first pottery was established in 1840 by James Bennett for the manufacture of yellow ware from clay discovered in the vicinity of the town. Mr. bennett was financially aided in this enterprise by Nathan Kearns and Benj. Harker. Almost immediately after Harker established the present works of Geo. S. Harker & Co., but it was not until 1862 that any great progress was made, when Congress imposed a tariff of 40 per cent, on imported earthenware, which resulted in giving a new impetus to the industry. Up to 1873 none but yellow ware had been produced. In that year Messrs. Knowles, Taylor & Knowles turned their attention to the production of white granite ware, meeting with success. Others followed their example, among them being Homer and S.M. Laughlin, who in the autumn of the same year built a large factory for the production of white ware. Since then considerable attention has been given to the manufacture of C.C., or cream-colored ware and to decorative pottery. At the present time over fifty kilns are devoted to the manufacture of white ware, twelve or more to cream-colored ware and over thirty to yellow ware. The value of the yearly production of a white ware kiln is from $30,000 to $35,000, a C.C. kiln about $25,000 and a yellow ware kiln $15,000 to $18,000, while the annual output of all the potteries is more than $2,000,000. Senator John Sherman, in an address at Liverpool, June 23, 1887, gave a very interesting account, from the standpoint of a protectionist, of the growth and causes that led to the development of this great industry. Said he: Several years ago I came among you, but I was not then as familiar with the great industry that has given you wealth and a name throughout the land as well as abroad as I am now. I believe that the manufacturing of pottery or chinaware first assumed large proportions here in 1861 or 1862, but at that time it met with discouragements and did not prosper. At that time all, or nearly all, the white china used in this country was imported from England. The English manufacturers, hearing of your efforts and your success through their representatives, made strenuous efforts to keep off a duty on their goods. You came to Congress and asked that a reasonable duty be placed upon imported white ware and decorated china that you might carry on successfully and profitably your industry. It was there that I first learned of the great industry you were pursuing. At the time this business was scarcely known in the United States. We had here in this locality all the clay and all the materials for manufacturing their goods, and you had the money and the pluck and ability to utilize them. But with English competition and cheap labor in that country you could not succeed. All the people in the West used common brown pottery because they could not afford to pay the high price asked for imported ware. I have eaten my meals many a time from the brown plates or from the tin ware in the homes of good and honest men who could not afford to buy the English china. Owing to the encouragement given to the tariff after the war, this industry grew and you prospered. I then visited your town and your potteries and found you had been going ahead and were manufacturing superior ware, and in 1883, when an attempt was made to break down the tariff on these goods, with your true friend, Major McKinley, and others, we stood by you and the tariff was continued. A gentleman said to me East Liverpool cannot compete with England, and the attempts of the potteries in that place will be futile, and argued that it was better to break down the tariff and depend upon England......The result of the protection given you has driven English goods from our market, and it has brought English labor in your midst, skilled workmen who are making finer and better goods than England can make and selling them cheaper. I was astonished to-day when I saw the kind and class of goods you are making, and have never seen any decorated ware more beautiful or more delicate in Europe. The time is not far distant when the works of art in china from East Liverpool will sell as high and be in as great demand as the finest goods from Europe. Your country here, fellow-citizens, is beautiful; your hills are grand, and buried under you by the magic wand of the enchanter is that marvelous discovery, natural gas, which by the light of a friction-match is even now illumining the world, and will work revolutions in your potteries and in all the industries in the United States. You have coal or gas, railroad, a river and protection. Go on in good work, and East liverpool will soon rival the Old Liverpool of England. TRAVELING NOTES ==== Maggie_Ohio Mailing List ====