From: Gary Tefft / locustent@aol.com
Location: Menomonee Falls WI
Date: 27 Sep 1998
Time: 21:05:40
Monmouth Pottery Company was founded in 1893 in Monmouth, Illinois. It was the first commercil stoneware pottery in Monmouth. It became Plant #1 and general office of the Western Stoneware Company in 1906, when it combined with five other firms in Illinois and Iowa. Before the turn of the century they salt-glazed their ware and used stenciled and occasionally hand-drawn decorations. Afterward they used white-glaze and rubber-stamped decorations. They originated the maple leaf decoration which Western Stoneware Company still uses to this day. There is a book titled Monmouth-Western Stoneware by Jim Martin and Bette Cooper. Jim Martin is the long-time president of the Old Sleepy Eye Collectors Club and Bette Cooper is the Secretary to the President of Western Stoneware Co.
-Gary-