![]() In 1906 the booming Belvidere plant was destroyed by a fire -rumored to have been started by a recently fired moldmaker -and the loss was tallied at nearly $27,000. Other products included such everyday items as crocks, butter jars and churns, as well as specialty items like chamber pots, mixing bowls and pigeon nests. Between this time and the 1920s, production moved ahead at a strong pace as Pfaltzgraff produced countless liquor jugs for the healthy liquor trade in York and the surrounding area. In 1896 the name was changed again to The Pfaltzgraff Stoneware Co., Ltd. By 1903 two more buildings of the same size had been added to the plant on Belvidere Street, which had been more mechanized in order to keep up with mass production. The following year, as the company ’s production demands were straining its small plant, more land was purchased -strategically located near a railroad -and a larger pottery facility was built. The company name was shortened to The Pfaltzgraff Stoneware Company in 1894, just as the third generation of Pfaltzgraffs was joining the operation. At the same time, George ran a general store and Henry traded horses and worked in politics. For the first time, the company began adapting itself for mass production and using stencils. The brothers started out with two hard-working horses to mix the clay and three kilns. Pfaltzgraff -the forerunner to The Pfaltzgraff Co. Both men had operated their own pottery businesses before deciding to combine forces in 1889 to launch H.B. In the meantime John ’s brothers George and Henry really marked the direction of the company. In 1899 his cigar company had 50 workers, while the Pfaltzgraff Stoneware Company Ltd. He later diversified, adding coal and cigars to his stoneware business. The eldest Pfaltzgraff son, John B., made distinctively witty and casual pieces, with no two pots decorated the same way, often making novelty items for birthdays, marriages, and other special occasions. ![]() The salt vaporizes in the heated air, but sodium from the salt that hits the clay results in a unique shiny glaze with a textured surface. The process of salt-glazing entails shoveling common rock salt into a hot kiln in which ware is baking. Thirty cords of wood were used that year for the 10,000 gallons of ware.įive of Pfaltzgraff ’s sons entered the pottery trade, three of whom left a legacy of salt-glazed products. Records show Pfaltzgraff & Son Pottery producing $1,000 worth of pottery in 1870, employing two men and turning wheels by both horse and hand. Not only a potter, Pfaltzgraff was also a farmer, which enabled him to anticipate people ’s pottery needs. By 1850, the potter ’s shop manufactured 16,000 gallons of ware -a measurement for pottery based on capacity of each piece of ware -made on hand-powered machinery and using 16 cords of wood for firing the kiln. ![]() Located near several main highways that facilitated the importation of blue clay used to make stoneware, as well as the distribution of the final product, there were also rich farmlands where Pfaltzgraff found red clay and limestone deposits needed for earthenware products, in addition to timberlands that provided the wood necessary for running the kilns. Pfaltzgraff was joined by a number of relatives from Germany, and in 1848 the operations were moved to Foustown. Founded by immigrant German potters in 1811, Pfaltzgraff ’s early years are largely unrecorded up until the late 1830s, when Johann George Pfaltzgraff built a potter ’s shop in Freystown, Pennsylvania, at the time an expanding center of cottage industries. It is the oldest manufacturer of pottery in the United States, growing through five generations of family management and ownership. The name Pfaltzgraff is familiar to millions of American consumers, and is especially known to collectors. Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff also includes Susquehanna Radio Corporation and Susquehanna Cable Company. Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Company is a holding company whose major subsidiary is The Pfaltzgraff Co., an historic American manufacturer of high quality stoneware and bone china dinner-ware that is a leader in its industry. SICs: 3269 Pottery Products Nec 3262 Vitreous China Table & Kitchenware 4832 Radio Broadcasting Stations 4833 Television Broadcasting Stations
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