Museum of Ceramics (East Liverpool, Ohio) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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East Liverpool Post Office
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Front of the museum
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 Location in Ohio
Location in the United States
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| Location | 5th and Broadway Sts., East Liverpool, Ohio |
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| Built | 1908 |
| Architect | James Knox Taylor |
| Architectural style | Beaux Arts |
| NRHP reference No. | 76001384 |
| Added to NRHP | November 21, 1976 |
The Museum of Ceramics is a special place in East Liverpool, Ohio. It used to be the East Liverpool Post Office. This museum shows off a huge collection of ceramic items. These items were all made in or near East Liverpool.
East Liverpool is famous for its pottery. People even called it "America's Crockery City" and "The Pottery Capital of the Nation." The Museum of Ceramics Foundation and the Ohio Historical Society help run the museum.
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Discovering East Liverpool's Pottery History
The Museum of Ceramics works hard to keep the amazing pottery history of East Liverpool alive. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, this area made more than half of all the ceramics in the United States!
Over 200 pottery factories have been in East Liverpool. The first one started in the 1840s. An English potter named James Bennett opened it. James was the older brother of Edwin Bennett, another famous potter from Baltimore.
What You'll See Inside the Museum
The museum has the biggest public display of something called Lotus Ware. This was a very fancy type of porcelain. It won awards but was only made for a short time in the 1890s. The Knowles, Taylor, Knowles pottery in East Liverpool created it.
You can also see other cool collections. These include early Rockingham Pottery and ironstone. There's also whiteware, yellow ware, and Victorian majolica.
Other special items include Homer Laughlin's Fiesta dinnerware. You can also see Hall China's Donut teapot. William Bloor's 1860s Parian Ware is on display too. Plus, there are beautiful Craven Art Pottery vases.
The museum also shows how the pottery industry changed the community. It shares stories about East Liverpool's social, political, and economic past. As of 2025, Susan Weaver is the director of the museum. The Goodwin Baggott Pottery is also run by the Museum of Ceramics.
The Museum's Historic Building
The museum is located in a beautiful old building. It used to be the United States post office. This building has a special style called Beaux-Arts.
A famous architect named James Knox Taylor designed it. The building was finished in 1909. Because it's so important, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 1976.
A Special Mural Inside
The main lobby of the building has a cool mural. A mural is a large painting on a wall. This one was painted by an Ohio artist named Roland Schweinsburg.
It's called Old Bennett Pottery Plant and was painted in 1936. The painting is a huge 15-foot lunette. A lunette is a half-moon shaped area. The government's Treasury Relief Art Project asked him to create it.
