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The J. L. Mott Iron Works was an American hardware dealer and manufacturer during the late 19th century. It operated in New York and was relocated to
The J. L. Mott Iron Works was an American hardware dealer and manufacturer during the late 19th century. It operated in New York and was relocated to Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.
The company relocated in about 1902 to Trenton, 
In 1917, artist Mott Iron Works website
/ref> was established in 1984 in
Modern Plumbing - J. L. Mott Iron Works (1921)
Kenneth Franzheim II Rare Books Room, William R. Jenkins Architecture and Art Library, University of Houston Digital Library. Manufacturing companies based in New Jersey Companies based in Trenton, New Jersey Mott Haven, Bronx History of the Bronx American companies established in 1828 Manufacturing companies established in 1828 1828 establishments in New York (state) Stoves Foundries in the United States Ironworks and steel mills in the United States
History
The J. L. Mott Iron Works was established by Jordan L. Mott inNew York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in the area now called Mott Haven
Mott Haven is an American primarily residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are East 149th Street to the north, the Bruckner ...
in 1828. Mott was previously a grocer but he transitioned to iron works when he invented the first cast iron stoves that could burn anthracite coal. The company would later expand to the manufacture and trading of "Stoves and ranges, hot-air furnaces, parlor grates and fenders, fire irons, cauldrons and kettles, statuary, candelabra, fountains garden seats, vases, iron pipes or every kind, water tanks, &c" are mentioned in Benson John Lossing, ''History of New York City.'' Mott was interested in the patenting of inventions, but turned down President Buchanan
James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...
's offer to make him Commissioner of Patents.
The business was continued by Mott's son, J.L. Mott, Jr. The J. L. Mott Iron Works shop occupied the entire 11 floors of a building shop in Fifth Avenue and Seventeenth Street. An account cited that the basement, first and second floors displayed plumbing and bathroom fixtures. The rest of the upper floors were devoted to hospital, marine, and tile departments as well as the ornamental, heating, and furnaces departments. Plumbing fixtures, including enameled cast iron bathtubs were also a J.L. Mott specialty.
At the Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
in Philadelphia, 1876, an elaborate cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
fountain, 25 feet tall, was exhibited by the company. According to the exposition review, ''Gems of the Centennial Exposition'' all of the modeling of architectural forms, basins and figures was completed by artisans of the company. Figures were molded in clay, then cast in plaster to provide the moulds for the cast iron, in a process similar to bronze-founding. The lowest "pan" or basin was ten feet in diameter, said at the time to have been the largest such cast-iron basin in the United States. Some examples of the fountain figure ''The Boy with the Leaking Boot
''The Boy with the Leaking Boot'' is a statue showing a young boy, with a bare right foot, holding up his right boot and looking at it. The statue is about tall, and in many cases forms a fountain, with water emerging from the toe of the boot ...
'' in various American and Canadian cities were purchased from the company.
The company relocated in about 1902 to Trenton, New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
.
In 1917, artist Marcel Duchamp
Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...
may have selected a urinal from the J.L. Mott showroom in Manhattan and presented it as a work of art called ''Fountain
A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect.
Fountains were ori ...
'' at the Society of Independent Artists exhibition. This episode marks the introduction of the readymade in the history of modern art.
The Mott Iron Works company/ref> was established in 1984 in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, United States, and has no connection with the earlier company.
See also
*Monumental Bronze Company The Monumental Bronze Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut was a monumental mason firm specializing in the production of white bronze (zinc) monumental masonry, active between 1875 and 1912 with subsidiaries throughout the United States (Des Moines, ...
* J. W. Fiske & Company
*Scanlan Fountain
Scanlan Fountain is an 1891 cast iron fountain, installed in Houston's Sam Houston Park, in the U.S. state of Texas. The fountain was installed in the park in 1972. It was cast by J. L. Mott Iron Works 1880 and held by a private individual befor ...
References
Further reading
* - company history and images of bathroom fittingsExternal links
* - 753 images from the company's catalogues * - Obituary of son of the founder *{{cite web, url=http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/manholes/manhole.html, title=Manhole and coal chute covers, work=Forgotten New York street scenes, accessdate=2009-07-15 - includes images of J. L. Mott ironworkModern Plumbing - J. L. Mott Iron Works (1921)
Kenneth Franzheim II Rare Books Room, William R. Jenkins Architecture and Art Library, University of Houston Digital Library. Manufacturing companies based in New Jersey Companies based in Trenton, New Jersey Mott Haven, Bronx History of the Bronx American companies established in 1828 Manufacturing companies established in 1828 1828 establishments in New York (state) Stoves Foundries in the United States Ironworks and steel mills in the United States