American Crockery Company

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The types of wares made appear below the pottery name in the left-hand column, followed by the references that informed these classifications.

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Notes include a variety of information compiled from many standard sources and are presented as miscellaneous tidbits.

In the Gallery and Map Gallery in the right-hand column you will see historic images and insurance maps of the pottery’s facilities if available as well as historic advertisements and images of the wares made.

You can download more detailed information in all of these categories by choosing a PDF of the pottery’s full listing, which also includes the documentary sources. The PDF is text only and does not contain any images.  Data from the 1860, 1870 and 1880 industrial censuses area also included in the PDF if they exist for a given pottery. This data gives you a picture of the size of the pottery operation and the age and gender makeup of its work force.

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In operation    1865-1887

Wares

TablewareWhite granite

Bisque and white granite ware (Abramson and Karschner 1978)

Stone china, bisque, and white granite goods, “Yedda” dinnerware, a “Wheat” jug, “Cable” dinnerware and jug, a “Rose” jug, also chamber sets in “Bamboo,” “Rustic,” and “Bullion,” etc. … Yedda dinnerware had an “all over Daisy pattern painted in deep underglaze blue heightened by gold” (Lehner 1980:24)

Notes

“The American Crockery Company have the distinctive honor of having been the first pottery in the city of Trenton, if not in this country, to take up the business of decorating their own production of white goods, and from a beginning that would now be considered ridiculously small, they have made the decorating branch the principal department of their business.”

— “Among the Potters.” Trenton Evening Times, Sunday, November 15, 1885.

 

Selected References

“The Manufactories of Trenton. Article II. The Pottery Trade.” Trenton State Gazette, Monday, August 27, 1866.

Woodward, E.M. and John F. Hageman. 1883. History of Burlington and Mercer Counties. Everts and Peck, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“Among the Potters.” Trenton Evening Times, Sunday, November 15, 1885.

Harney, W.J. 1929. “Trenton’s First Potteries.” Sunday Times Advertiser, July 7, 14, 21 and 28, 1929.

Goldberg, David J. 1998.  Preliminary Notes on the Pioneer Potters and Potteries of Trenton, N.J.: The First Thirty Years – 1852 – 1882 (And Beyond).  Privately published, Trenton, New Jersey.

Other firms at this site:

Other Names

East Trenton Crockery & Kaolin Company; Fisk & Cheeseman; Fisk's Pottery; American Crockery Company

Block and Lot:
213A/2

Historic Street Address:
New York Avenue near Mulberry Street; Delaware and Raritan Canal above Rose Street

Municipality:
Millham

Map Gallery

American Crockery Company, 1875 Everts & Stewart Map
American Crockery Company, 1881 Robinson Map
American Crockery Company, 1882 Haven Map
American Crockery Works, 1886 Sanborn
Map References

Everts & Stewart.  1875  Combination Atlas Map of Mercer County. Everts and Stewart, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.   (Shown as “Fisk’s Pottery”)

Robinson, E., and R. H. Pidgeon. 1881. Atlas of the City of Trenton and Suburbs New Jersey: From Actual Surveys and Official Records.  E. Robinson, New York, New York.  (Plate R: shown as “American Crockery Co.”)

Haven, C. C.  1882.   A New Real Estate and Insurance Map of the City of Trenton Including Chambersburg, Millham, and Parts of Ewing, Lawrence, and Hamilton Townships, Mercer County. E.P. Noll & Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.   (Shown as “American Crockery Co. Pliny Fisk Prest.”)

Sanborn, D. A. 1874.   Insurance Diagrams of Trenton. Corrected to 1886.  D.A. Sanborn, New York, New York.  (Plate 16: shown as “American Crockery Co.”)

1880 Census

Name in censusAmerican Crockery Co.
Capital130000
Number of hands189
Males above 1690
Females above 1543
Children48
May to Nov hours10
Nov to May hours10
Skilled wages2
Ordinary wages1.5
Total wages in year85000
Full time months12
Value of raw material40000
Value of product140000
Number of engines1
Horse power60