Syracuse China

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Syracuse China, located in Lyncourt, New York (a suburb of Syracuse), was founded in 1871 as Onondaga Pottery Company (O.P. Co.) in the town of Geddes next to Syracuse and is still producing to this day. Initially a producer of earthenware, in the late 19th century, O.P.Co., under President James Pass, developed a new china body and won the medal for translucent china at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. In 1897 production turned to the vitreous china body. Its first colored china body, "Old Ivory," appeared in 1926. The company thrived with its hotel and railroad sales. The narrow-bodied "Econo-Rim" was tailored for the cramped table space of dining cars. Highly sought after collectible patterns sell regularly on eBay and at estate sales. The company was renowned for its fine china designs until 1970 when it limited its production to mostly restaurant dinnerware.

[edit] References

  • Reed, Cleota and Skoczen, Stan. Syracuse China. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997.

[edit] External links

In 1841, W. H. Farrar started a small pottery business in the town of Geddes, NY. Seventeen years later he moved the business to the location of what would become the Onondaga Pottery Company and eventually Syracuse China. Mr. Farrar produced whiskey jugs, butter crocks and mixing bowls in stoneware. A few years later the Empire Pottery company was organzied to take over the Farrar Pottery. A line of "white ware" for table use was added. Like most pottery of the time it was susceptible to "crazing" - small cracks in the glazed surface. The company struggled along until 1871 at which time Onondaga Pottery Company was organzied and took over.

Popular taste demanded a finer ceramic tableware than the heavy pottery made by these companies. Onondaga Pottery started producing a heavy earthen ware called "Ironstone" but struggle to succeed. In 1873, they began manufacturing a "white granite ware" and then in 1885 a semi-vitreous ware. A year later they replaced this with a high fired china and a guarantee that the glaze would not crackle or craze - the first time and American made tableware carried such a warranty. It was at this point, 45 years after the start of pottery production in Syracuse that the pottery business showed a stable and profitable prospect.

Reference: Syracuse China Corp. History of Syracuse China. Syracuse, NY. 1970.