8. Home of Fiestaware© - - Homer Laughlin China Co.

Newell, West Virginia

September 18, 2010

Homer and Shakespeare Laughlin, two brothers from East Liverpool, Ohio, formed a partnership in 1871 to sell pottery ware, which was made in the factories located in their hometown. In 1902, a tract of land on the opposite side of the Ohio River was purchased from the Newell family. A subsidiary company, the North American Manufacturing Company was formed to develop the town, which would become Newell, West Virginia. Building lots were laid out, a water and sewer system was installed, and electric power was secured. A suspension bridge was built across the Ohio River, connecting the new community with East Liverpool and a trolley line was built to transport pottery workers across the river. During 1905 and 1906, the company constructed plant #4, which at that time, was the largest pottery plant ever built in the world. Homer Laughlin now had a combined production capacity of 300,000 pieces of ware per day (10% of the U. S. production capacity). The company’s headquarters were moved to the Newell location at the beginning of 1907. The company had hired Frederick Hurten Rhead as design director in 1927, a post which he would hold until his death in 1942. Rhead’s 15 year reign proved to be the most prolific period of new product introductions in the company’s history. Rhead designed Virginia Rose as well as the several Eggshell shapes. Rhead’s most famous accomplishment, however, was Fiesta. With Fiesta leading the way, The Homer Laughlin China Company continued to flourish until the onset of World War II. During the war years, much of the company’s production was shifted to the production of china for our armed forces. After the war, production returned to normal and the company reached it’s peak production year in 1948. More than 3,000 workers were employed to produce over ten million dozen pieces of ware. In the early eighties, the company began to produce lead-free china, something that would become very important as the country became more environmentally conscious. Using lead-free glazes and a vitrified china body, Fiesta was reintroduced in new and updated colors.