From: Gary Tefft / locustent@aol.com
Location: Menomonee Falls, Wi
Date: 21 Sep 1999
Time: 23:51:24
I hadn’t had a chance to answer my e-mail for a couple of days and last night I started answering questions from the top-down, rather than the oldest first. So, I’m sorry Ann, I hope that you see this before your trip.
Yes, you can visit the Red Wing Pottery factory when you are in Red Wing. The second-best news is that you can do some shopping at the same time, because it now serves as a mall. (The first-best news would have been that you could have toured the factory as pottery was being made however, that activity ended in 1967. But, more about that later.) There are shoe and clothing outlets, specialty stores and lots of antique dealers occupying the first three of the four floors of the sturdy, brick building which was put-up in two parts. The oldest, along whith the office, was erected in 1900 by Minnesota Stoneware Company. It was doubled in size about ten years later under the Red Wing Union Stoneware Company, which became the Red Wing Potteries, Inc. in 1936.
The parking lot replaces the kiln-shed and warehouse. There is a Godfather’s Pizza restaurant in the old clay storage area. Across the parking lot are newly erected buildings housing more factory outlet shops.
Across the street, on the former site of the original Red Wing Stoneware Company factory, is the Red Wing Pottery Salesroom, which now has been annexed by...more clothing and specialty shops. The Showroom sells pottery from a variety of makers and has added an actual hand-throwing, salt-glazing stoneware factory within its walls. So, there is an opportunity for that factory tour after all. In fact, a few miles up the road is the present Red Wing Stoneware Company, not contiguously related to the original except in name, but a larger operation than the Salesroom’s and producing ware reminiscent of a later era of Red Wing’s pottery heritage, that from 1900 through 1947.
Be sure to visit the historical marker, just down the street from the Salesroom. It includes the brickwork star from the third floor exterior wall of the North Star Stoneware Company building, which was razed just a few years ago. Try not to miss the downtown shops, but for fine shopping and antiques. Above all, reserve a couple of hours for the Goodhue County Historical Society Museum.
Hope that you enjoy your visit!
-Gary-