As part of a cover story I wrote for the December 16, 2022 issue of Antiques & Auction News, titled, Roy Blind: A World War II Veteran And Sewer Pipe Folk Artist From Ohio, I demonstrated how sewer tile objects were still being made in Ohio, as late as the 1970s and 1980s: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2022/12/new-published-cover-story-roy-blind.html.
Learning this information while working on the story was somewhat of a surprise to me, seeing that some of the forms were similar to types also produced in the late 1800s and early 1900s, such as sewer tile spaniels. I also learned in June of 2024 from a presentation about some Ohio pottery given by Andrew Richmond and Hollie Davis of Ohio at Historic Eastfield Village's bi-annual ceramic conference in New York, otherwise known as Dish Camp, that some of the so-called "end-of-the-day" sewer tile production in Ohio was actually sold in some of the factory stores.
Nonetheless, while visiting an antique show yesterday in Concord, New Hampshire, I learned about these two twentieth century stoneware Toby jugs that were made at the Dorchester Pottery Works in Dorchester, Massachusetts. This type of production was previously unknown to me, although I had wondered if these objects represented Paul Revere, seeing that they were made for the bicentennial celebration in 1976. One of the jugs is marked on the base with a number, suggesting that this was a limited type of production, while the second jug was inscribed on the base and the handle terminal with the artist's initials.
The Dorchester Pottery Works was founded in 1895 by master potter George Henderson (1863-1928) and made all types of stoneware, much of which was molded. In fact, some of the molds are owned today by the City of Boston Archaeology Program.
In its early years, the company produced many items for farm and factory use, including pitchers, jugs, jewelers’ jars, shellac jars and bean pots. The company also produced the “Patented Henderson Foot Warmer,” which was a stoneware hot water bottle in the form of a porcelain pig and was one of the firm’s most distinctive products.
After World War II the pottery works began shifting to decorated tableware, which by the 1960s had become of the company's primary type of production. Interestingly, there were even some years where people would line up outside of the factory after a kiln firing waiting to purchase the newly fired wares.
There is also a resemblance in the color patterns used at the Dorchester Pottery when compared to Hugh Robertson's (1844-1908) famed circa 1896-1943 Dedham Pottery in Dedham, Massachusetts. The distance between Dorchester and Dedham is less-than ten miles.
Nonetheless, the Dorchester Pottery Works remained in the Henderson family until the factory closed its doors in 1979. The red brick factory building was then designated as a Boston Landmark in 1980 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Pair of Marked Stoneware Toby Jugs Made at the Dorchester Pottery Works
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