RED WING POTTERIES:

The earliest recorded pottery making in the Red Wing area is credited to a German immigrant named J. Pohl who in 1861 began fashioning crude crocks on his farm. He used the clay deposits on his own property and hand-turned his ware on a treadle wheel.

In 1868 W. M. Philleo began manufacturing flower vases in Red Wing using local clay. He manufactured unglazed terra cotta ware until his pottery works burned in 1870. He rebuilt his small factory but ran into financial difficulty and abandoned his business shortly thereafter. D. Hallem, who had worked with Philleo for a short time, continued to manufacture pottery in a small way in his home.

Red Wing Potteries, Inc. traces its beginnings to 1877 when a group of Red Wing citizens met to consider the subject of organizing a company for the manufacture of stoneware. Incorporated in 1877, the Red Wing Stoneware Company purchased the meager assets of Hallem and constructed larger, more efficient kilns. The company was a success from the start, digging its clay locally and producing quality stoneware crocks, jugs, and milk pans of various shapes and sizes.

The Red Wing Stoneware Company prospered over the years and the company's apparent success encouraged others to enter the field. In 1883 the Minnesota Stoneware Company was organized and began manufacturing across the street from the Red Wing Stoneware plant. Nine years later, in 1892, another company, the North Star Stoneware Company, was formed. The North Star owners built their works in the immediate vicinity of their two competitors.

To meet the competition of the newer and larger North Star plant, a partial merger was effected in 1894 between the Red Wing and Minnesota Stoneware companies, a joint selling agency called the Red Wing Union Stoneware Company. The joining of forces turned out to be a profitable move for the two older companies because the new rival, the North Star plant, ceased operation in 1897.

In February 1900, the Minnesota Stoneware plant burned to the ground, and nine months later, in November, the Red Wing Stoneware Company also burned. Both plants rebuilt immediately, continued to prosper, and, pleased by the success of their partial merger in 1894, chose to merge completely in 1906. They continued the name Red Wing Union Stoneware Company, and the city of Red Wing was left with only one pottery.

In the following two decades the Red Wing Union Stoneware Company enjoyed continued prosperity. Unfortunately, in the 1920s the market for stoneware began to dwindle. Thus the company was forced to diversify and open up new markets. Company officials chose to enter the dinnerware field.

Red Wing dinnerware caught on and began accounting for an increasing proportion of sales, with the stoneware products experiencing a proportionate decline. The officers felt that the name of the corporation, Red Wing Union Stoneware Company, did not logically reflect this changing product mix. The company was rapidly leaving the stoneware "jug and crock" field and entering the dinnerware or tableware field. Therefore, in January 1936, the shareholders voted to change the name from the "Red Wing Union Stoneware Company" to the "Red Wing Potteries, Inc."

While there are no financial records available prior to 1952, the 1930s and 1940s reportedly were prosperous years for Red Wing Potteries. By 1947 the company had discontinued all stoneware production and had assumed a leadership role in the dinnerware field.

Around 1950 a trend began that eventually was to be a factor in the demise of Red Wing Potteries. While in 1950 only ten percent of all dinnerware patterns displayed in department stores were of foreign origin, in 1967 nearly ninety percent were imports.

Beginning on June 1, 1967, a strike of the Local Union No. 6-430, Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, lasted until August 24, when the president of the Pottery, R. A. Gillmer, announced that the stockholders had voted to liquidate the firm.

See Richard S. Gillmer, Death of a business: the Red Wing Potteries (Ross and Haines, 1968) for a more complete history of the company, and especially for details about the strike which brought on the liquidation in 1967.

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Also included are files (1931-1948) of correspondence, minutes, financial data, and annual reports of its Chicago sales office, and reflecting its stockholdings in the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company (Chicago) and the Red Wing Advertising Company. There are also brochures describing processes for the manufacture of stoneware and dinnerware, and plats and plans of its buildings and grounds.

Also included are constitutions and agreements between the company and the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union and predecessor unions (1948-1966); pattern sheets, price lists, sketches of pottery items, and photographs of finished products; watercolor and pen and ink sketches, scale drawings, and blueprints of various pottery patterns, and photographs of pottery, probably for promotional advertising, and of the pottery-making process.

Also included are sketches and patterns of flowers and plants by William G. Warr Jr., a designer for Red Wing Potteries from 1949-1954. The sketches and patterns include drawings of plum blossoms, Iris and Bird of Paradise flowers, and leaves and cattails. Three color photographs of finished dinnerware are also included.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Red Wing Potteries Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples

Accession Information:

Accession number: 10,841; 12,383; 16,227

Processing Information:

Processed by: Dennis Meissner, November 2006; Alex Kent, January 2010

Catalog ID number: 990017305270104294

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The Red Wing Union Stoneware Company held title to several hundred acres of farm land in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana from the 1920s through the 1940s. The bulk of the correspondence deals with these various land holdings of the company. Some of the many subjects included in the letters are: the condition of the property, seeking new renters, unpaid rent and taxes, foreclosures, and sales. E. H. Rehder, Secretary and Office Manager of the company, authored most of the outgoing letters.

The Red Wing Potteries maintained a large sales office in Chicago from 1921 to 1947. In accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois, a separate eponymous corporation was chartered on February 16, 1921. Included in these papers (1935-47) are correspondence, monthly trial balances, and minutes of the annual meetings of the stockholders and directors.

Red Wing Potteries, Inc. was a stockholder in the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company (Chicago). Included in the papers (1931-48) are annual reports, brochures, and miscellaneous correspondence. The Potteries also owned stock in the Red Wing Advertising Company. Among the papers (1933-48) are stock certificates, correspondence, annual reports, and brochures describing the service of the corporation.

Included in the papers are various items pertaining to the general policies and personnel of the Red Wing Potteries: a list of the managerial, factory, and clerical staff giving full name, age, and salary (December 31, 1936); certificate of amendment to the articles of incorporation of the Red Wing Union Stoneware Company (January 20, 1944); articles of incorporation and bylaws, as amended, of Red Wing Union Stoneware Company (October 1, 1951); personnel policy (1952); and a certificate of amendment of the articles of incorporation and the bylaws of the Red Wing Potteries, Inc. (January 26, 1952).

At the end of the correspondence in box 10 is a folder containing miscellaneous clippings and brochures, which briefly outline the history of the company. Other brochures describe some of the processes in the manufacturing of stoneware and dinnerware, as practiced at the Red Wing Potteries.

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Warr was an artist/designer at Red Wing Pottery from the Fall of 1949 to the Spring of 1954. He was the designer of the Red Wing stamp and the Dynasty/Plum Blossom dinnerware pattern in 1950. Includes sketches and patterns of plum blossoms, Iris and Bird of Paradise flowers, leaves, cattails, and three color photographs of finished dinnerware. The sketches include some in colored pencil.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Agriculture -- Montana.

Agriculture -- North Dakota.

Business enterprises -- Minnesota -- Red Wing.

Factories -- Designs and plans.

Pottery, American -- Minnesota -- Red Wing.

Labor unions -- Minnesota -- Red Wing.

Persons:

Gillmer, R. A.

Rehder, Ernest Henry, ca. 1881- .

Warr, William G.

Organizations:

Minnesota Stoneware Company (Red Wing, Minn.).

Northwestern Terra Cotta Company.

Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union.

Red Wing Advertising Company.

Red Wing Stoneware Company (Red Wing, Minn.).

Red Wing Union Stoneware Company (Red Wing, Minn.).

Document Types:

Design drawings.

Plats.

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