The American Terracotta Tile and Ceramic Company was founded in 1881; originally as Spring Valley Tile Works; in Terra Cotta, Illinois, between

Crystal Lake, Illinois Crystal Lake is a city in McHenry County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Named after a lake southwest of the city's downtown, Crystal Lake is 45 miles northwest of Chicago. The population is 40,269 as of the 2020 Census, a 1.2% decrease from 201 ...

and

McHenry, Illinois McHenry is a city in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb, part of the Chicago metropolitan area and is located about 37 miles northwest of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 27,135. McHenry was at one time th ...

near

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

by William Day Gates. It became the country's first manufactury of

architectural terracotta Architectural terracotta refers to a fired mixture of clay and water that can be used in a non-structural, semi-structural, or structural capacity on the exterior or interior of a building. Terracotta pottery, as earthenware is called when not us ...

in 1889. The production consisted of drain tile, brick, chimney tops, finials, urns, and other economically fireproof building materials. Gates used the facilities to experiment with

clays Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and glazes in an effort to design a line of

art pottery Art pottery is a term for pottery with artistic aspirations, made in relatively small quantities, mostly between about 1870 and 1930. Typically, sets of the usual tableware items are excluded from the term; instead the objects produced are mostly ...

which led to the introduction of Teco (pronounced TĒĒ - CŌ ) Pottery. American Terra Cotta's records are housed at the University of Minnesota and include original architectural drawings.American Terra Cotta and Ceramic Company records, N5
Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, MN The smooth, micro-crystalline, matte "Teco Green" glaze of Teco art pottery was developed independently and wasn't an attempt to copy the famous Grueby green.

Wares

The pottery shapes derived from line and color rather than elaborate decoration. While most of the 500 shapes created by 1911 were the product of Gates' efforts, many of the remaining Teco designs were the work of several Chicago architects that were involved in the

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in ...

style as expressed by

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

. They had rejected the revival styles of American architecture of the 19th century in favor of using wood, stone and clay in simplicity of design. Any ornamentation consisted of geometrical or natural objects which merged gracefully with the form. Teco Pottery became closely linked with this style and the pottery was often an integral part of Prairie School homes

Bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

. Gates retired in 1913 to write for ''Clay-worker'' magazine, but returned in 1915. His son Major Gates, a ceramic engineer, invented a pressing machine and tunnel kiln, and also a glaze spraying apparatus called a pulischrometer. In 1918, they acquired Indianapolis Terra Cotta Company. In 1919, a Minneapolis branch opened. Nearing the end of his life, William D. Gates constructed a residence just north of

named "Trail's End" symbolizing his decreasing involvement in the company.

After the Crash

In October 1929, the Indianapolis branch closed due to the stock market crash. Later, the plant also fell victim to the Great Depression and operations ceased. In 1930, ownership was transferred to George A. Berry, Jr; Gates' attorney. Terra cotta production resumed until 1941. After World War II, they resumed manufacturing structural clay products through 1966. In 1972, TC inc. was formed from a merger of three businesses as production facility of ground engaging tools for construction equipment on the site.

Sterling mark

The following is taken directly from an early catalo

References

External links

{{commons category
The Teco Art Pottery Collection
Modern day reproduction Teco Pottery
Teco Pottery
American art pottery

Wares

After the Crash

Sterling mark

References

Further reading

External links