The Marshall Pottery reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Marshall Pottery

Marshall Pottery Inc. is the largest manafacturer of red clay pots in the United States and one of the leading and oldest pottery manafactures in the world. Marshall Pottery operates a 100,000 sq ft retail store adjacent to it's headquarters in Marshall, Texas which attracts over 500,000 tourists a year.

Marshall Pottery was founded in 1895 by W. F. Rocker in Marshall, Texas. Rocker located in East Texas for it's abundance water and white clay. By 1905 the Marshall Pottery was owned by Sam Ellis into the hands of Sam Ellis around 1905, the invention of the glass canning jar and other new products in the 1920s the business almost folded. Prohibition led to a thriving, moonshine industry and a need for cheap and afordable jugs to but the moonshine in. If not for the sale of jugs during prohibiton it is likely that Marshall Pottery would have gone bankrupt.

In the 1940s the pottery began producing flower pots, with the discovery of a clay that required a lower firing temprature. For many years Marshall Pottery continued to employ potters as it's primary means of manafacturing. One of these employees, Pete Payne, became a master potter and displayed his technique at the Smithsonian Institute. Since the construction of a new facility in 1998 most of the pottery's production has been automated. However hand made pottery can still be purchased and tourist can watch potters create it.

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