Mercer Pottery Company

The Mercer Pottery Company is a defunct American pottery company. It was founded in 1868 in Trenton, New Jersey, then purchased in 1875 by James Moses.[1] The company ran successfully until the 1930s. It claimed to have made the first semi-porcelain ware in the United States.[2] They operated four kilns and employed 120 people with an annual revenue of $150,000 per year.[3] Although primarily focused on plain white dinnerware, by 1873 the company had established an on-site decorating room in order to facilitate a growing demand for decorated ceramics.[4]

In 1900, the plant faced a strike by its jiggermen who claimed the company paid unfair wages.[5] The issue was brought to a committee formed by parties on both sides to settle the matter, but workers decided that the committee was not deciding fast enough.[5] Despite the strike, the plant continued to operate and the issue remained at the committee.[5] A decade later, the plant threatened to shut down due to, what it considered, unreasonable demands by city inspectors.[6]

References

Quarter-century's Progress of New Jersey's Leading Manufacturing Centres : Trenton: Embracing ... Growth, Development, and Present Advantages ... International Publishing Company. 1887. p. 290.

Barber, Edwin (1904). Marks of American Potters (Book). Philadelphia, Patterson & White. p. 57. OCLC 39366448.

"Trenton's Potteries" (PDF). The New York Times. March 29, 1873.

Blaszczyk, Regina Lee (2002). Imagining Consumers: Design and Innovation from Wedgwood to Corning. JHU Press. p. 75. ISBN 9780801869143.

"How it happened: Trenton account of the Mercer strike"Paid subscription required. The Evening Review. East Liverpool, Ohio. May 3, 1900. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.

"Anchor Potter may remain open"Paid subscription required. Trenton Evening Times. Trenton, New Jersey. June 5, 1915. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.