Some of the earliest pottery manufactured anywhere in Illinois occurred soon after Upper Alton was established when red earthenware potters began to manufacture pottery, as early as 1820. Some of the potters employed with this early production included Nathaniel Pinckard, William Heath and Robert Harrison. Production was certainly intended for the local marketplace, but these potters may have also taken advantage of their strategic location based along the Mississippi River, transporting their wares to other riverside communities in Illinois and Missouri.
The production of stoneware eventually emerged in Upper Alton, Madison County in the 1830s with the arrival of some German potters, and this trend continued elsewhere in Illinois once potters were able to identify the more desirable clays found in the state. In the late-1700s, red earthenware clays were discovered in Ohio, Indiana and later Illinois. These clays were found near the surface in certain areas in Illinois, and thus why red earthenware was the earliest form of production. Once the stoneware clays were identified, potters began to transition to this new form of production.
Nonetheless, by the mid-nineteenth century, there were a number of stoneware potters employed in the Upper Alton area. Among this group of potters was Issac E. Warnack and Henry D. Warnack, potters who had migrated north from Tennessee, and are found working at a local pottery, as early as 1843.
According to the History of Upper Alton, Illinois - Including Salu and Milton by Beverly Bauser, "In 1832, Isaac E. Warnack settled in the village of Salu with his mother, Elizabeth, and his son, Henry D. Warnack (d. 1861). Isaac purchased 35 acres, where a pottery was established in 1843. It was located on Salu Street, west of Seminary Street. The I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery employed five men in 1850. They used a technique of dipping salt-glazed vessels, which created a distinctive two-tone effect. The pottery ceased production in 1868."
I recently learned that the whereabouts of the Warnack Pottery site is still largely intact today, where the homeowners of the property, David and Bonnie Thompson have recovered some exciting artifacts from the kiln's waster dump site located next to the collapsed kiln. They have been casually digging the site for the last ten years, and the reason this information is being shared on this website is because the excavation is nearly complete. The recovered artifacts include stoneware jugs, pans or bowls, crocks, lids, bottles and kiln furniture; some of the artifacts have even been recovered as whole objects, but appear to have been discarded in the waste pile because they were underfired or have defects. They even recovered the remains of a rare mark applied at this company, "H.D. WARNACK / UPPER, ALTON ILL." Interestingly, the H.D. Warnack mark appears on some of the recovered forms, such as crocks and pans or bowls, although there are no surviving marked pans or bowls known to exist today. The Thompsons have recovered about a dozen or so marked pan or bowl sherds from the site of the pottery.
Betty I. Maden wrote in the book, Arts, Crafts and Architecture in Early Illinois, "Occasionally an early potter stamped or scratched his name on the ware or painted it with a distinctive design considered to be his mark. However, of the many thousands of articles produced in more than seventy-four potteries known to exist in Illinois before 1860, relatively few were given such marks of identification. This fact and the scarcity of scientific research of early Illinois have prevented identification of the products of most of these early potteries (thus why archaeology and archaeological remains are so important today)."
This article is just the beginning of the evidence recovered at the site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery - there will be much more to see in another article that will be posted to this website in the near future.
The Site of the 1843-1868 I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, Illinois
Artifacts Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
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Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Pan or Bowl Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Pan or Bowl Recovered by David Thompson
Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Pan or Bowl Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Sherd Marked "H.D. WARNACK / UPPER, ALTON ILL"
Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Sherds Marked "H.D. WARNACK / UPPER, ALTON ILL"
Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Crock Marked "H.D. WARNACK / UPPER, ALTON ILL"
View of the Crock's Handle
Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Pan or Bowl Marked "H.D. WARNACK / UPPER, ALTON ILL"
Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Pan or Bowl Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Pan or Bowl Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Bonnie Thompson Recovering a Stoneware Bottle
Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
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Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Jug Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Bottle Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Bottle Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Crock Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
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Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Crock Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Artifacts Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Bottle Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Bottle Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Stoneware Bottle Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Underfired Stoneware Bottles and Jugs
Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
19th Century Stoneware Bottles and a Jug
Recovered at the Site of the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: David and Bonnie Thompson
Henry Warnack Listed as a Potter in Upper Alton, IL in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census
He is Cited as Having Been Born in Tennessee
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He is Cited as Having Been Born in Tennessee
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Letterhead from the I.E. Warnack & Son Pottery in Upper Alton, IL
Circa 1843-1868
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Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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