WISCONSIN POTTERIES
Redware & Stoneware
Compiled and Edited by Michael R. Reilly,copyright 1996
Last Revised 04/20/2010
Wisconsin’s potteries, particularly those at Belmont andWhitewater, rivaled Galena, Illinois, in producing redware of the highestquality. John Hammett was an active potter between 1842 and 1879.Characteristics of his colors were glazes in variations of yellow, orange, andgreen, colors also typical of Galena, where Hammett is said to have worked.However, form, far more than color is the distinguishing characteristic of thesejugs. The overall shape, particularly the neck, and handle finish is as stylishas anything ever done in this country. Hammett must be regarded as one of theoutstanding nineteenth-century potters.
Whitewater pottery is a typical early stoneware shape,decorated with cobalt, which turns purple-black on red clay. Whitewater’s firstpotter was Warren Cole, active from 1845 to 1855 working in conjunction withGeorge Williams, and, from the contour alone it may be assumed that this potteryis from his kiln, since ovoid pots were rare after 1850. Cole was followed byJ.C. Williams & Co. circa 1855-59 and finally, Dan Cole & Co. activeuntil 1871. There was a second shop in Whitewater, this one run by MichaelOhnhaus and John Milz between 1859 and 1881. Although much of the glazedearthenware now found in Wisconsin must be attributed to Whitewater, there wasanother well known redware craftsman, Konrad Langenberg of Franklin, who madeteapots, cake molds, baking dishes, and crocks from 1860 until 1888.Langenberg’s hand formed Christmas tree ornaments are most prized.
Several Milwaukee shops made red earthenware, the chiefartisans being Frederick & Albert Herman, 1857-98, and John G. Bauer,1857-1905. The dominant product was flowerpots, though household crockery wasalso manufactured.
Milwaukee and Sheboygan were the stoneware centers ofWisconsin. The river bank in the former city was once piled high with Ohio claybrought to the city to serve the kilns of Charles Herman & Co., John B.Maxfield, Isaac Brazelton, and other manufacturers. The Herman firm was openedin 1856 and continued into the twentieth century. It was an extensive operation,producing in later years a half-million gallons of stoneware annually. (Westernshops measured output by capacity rather than by piece as in the East). Thestamp “C. HERMANN & Co.”, sometimes the name alone and sometimeswith “MILWAUKEE” added, appears on some fine wheel-turned cork andwax-sealing fruit jars.
The only serious competition within the state was offeredby the Sheboygan shops. Isaac Brazelton had transferred his business there in1855, and he was succeeded by Theodore Gunther, whose Eastern Stoneware Factoryproduced substantial amounts of crockery between 1862 and 1887.
Article taken from the Pottery & Porcelain Handbook alsoappeared in The Cream City Courier, submitter unknown; and excerpt from BottleMakers and Their Marks by Julian Harrison Toulous, 1971, re: the Hermannstamp.
WISCONSIN POTTERS
City – Potter Name / c. Period / Product
Cottage Inn (near present day Belmont) – John Hammett & Bros. c.1842-79 Redware
Broadhead – William Murrey c. 1868 Redware
Franklin – Konrad Langenberg c. 1860-88 Redware
Manitowoc – William Reinhardt c. 1868-69 ?
Menasha – Batchelder Pottery c. 1850-80 ?
Milwaukee – Isaac P. Brazelton c. 1844-55 Stoneware
Charles Hermann & Co. (see Pierron) c. 1856-02 Stoneware
, 554E. Water St.
Frederick & Albert Herrmann (son) c. 1848-84 Redware
, 4803rd St.
Albert Herrmann c. 1884-98 Redware
John G. Bauer c. 1857-05 Redware, 420Washington St.
Frank (Franz) Mohr c. 1856-66 Redware., 828Winnebago
Wentzel Weitzner c. 1856-96 Redware
Caspar Hennecke & Co. c. 1868-95 Stoneware, BuffaloSt
John G. Heinze c. 1867-94 Redware, 1001Winnebago
H. Weis & F. Schmidt c. 1876-15 ?
Wenzel Reitzner c. ? ?, 402 6th St.
Ferdinand Fleig c. ? ?, 1407 Fond du LacAve.
Gallasch Wenzell c. ? ? (Mustard Manuf., 116Ogden)
Louie Pierron (see C. Hermann & Co.) c. 1886-1935 Stoneware
Oscar F. Baker c. 1851-53 Stoneware, MilwaukeeStoneware Factory, W. Water Street near Clybourne
John B. & Amos Maxfield c. 1854-55 Stoneware (Purchased Milw. StonewareFactory)
John B. Maxfield c. 1854-58 Stoneware (Bought out bro. Amos)
E.D. Chapin c. 1858-? Stoneware (bought out J.B. Maxfield)
Sheboygan – Isaac Brazelton c. 1855-62 Stoneware
Theodore Gunther c. 1862-87 Stoneware (EasternStoneware Factory
Gunther & Burns (Peter) c. 1864-66 Stoneware
Miles Diedrich & Co. c. 1887-90 Stoneware
Whitewater – Warren Cole (Sr) & Co. (G.G. Williams). c. 1845-55 Redware,(Cole & Williams partners from 1847-55)
George G. Williams & Co. c. 1855-59 Redware
Cole & Hunter (Dan & William) c. 1859-67 Redware
Daniel Cole c. 1867-71 Redware
Michael Ohnhaus & Co. (John Milz) c. 1859-71 Redware
The above listing was obtained fromarticles previously published in The Cream City Courier by unknownsubmitters (believed to be in part by Peter Maas?). Additional info was receivedfrom stoneware collector Jim Berns and the book “Wisconsin FolkPottery” by Kenneth Dearolf in corporation with the Kenosha PublicMuseum, 1986.
From a MilwaukeeSentinel article “City of Beers: History Revealed in Bottles“by Joseph A. Huddleston about M.A.B.C. member John Lauber comes this additionalinformation article excerpts about pottery bottles.
The earliest bottles used to contain beer in this areawere pottery bottles, according to Lauber, and they were first brought to theMilwaukee area by the new arrivals. Manufacture of pottery bottles in the areawas from about 1850 to the middle 1880’s, and some apparently were reused forquite a while after that. They could be rather inexpensively made with availableclay and wood to fuel the kilns.
A few of the early bottle manufacturers can still beidentified but most have been lost to even avid researchers. Dozens of smallpotteries probably operated out of homes and back sheds in small villages andfarm homes throughout south and eastern Wisconsin.
The Charles Hermann pottery in Milwaukee and the TheodoreGunther pottery in Sheboygan probably produced many of the recognizable potterybottles still in existence now.
Seldom was there a name or indication given as to whoactually made the bottles. It’s believed that markings often found around theneck of bottles was to identify the bottles by their owners or makers.
The pottery beer bottle were normally closed with a cork,which was held down by a wire and removed by an ice pick or a similar device.Frequent chips around the tops of many bottles indicate they were reused.
John [Lauber] is reported to possess in his collection aone of a kind multi-sided gray pottery bottle with “Taylor & Bro.”impressed on the side. It has a blob top leaning slightly to one side, the topof this bottle dating from about 1851, apparently tilted before the damp claywas fired in the kiln. He also has an Otto Zwietusch pottery bottle, probablymade in the 1860’s.
Excerpts from the newspaper article havebeen rewritten by this book’s [The Milwaukee Antique Bottle & AdvertisingClub: The Cream City Courier – A Special 25th Anniversary Issue] editor, Mike Reilly. copyright February, 1997.