Marshall Pottery
Marshall, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Kentucky native W. F. Rocker founded the Marshall Pottery in 1895. The locale, apparently not legally owned by Rocker, contained spring-fed water and vast quantities of white clay, the two natural ingredients needed for the production of pottery. The business began with six employees, one wood-fired rock kiln, a mule-powered clay grinder and one man-powered kickwheel for turning the stoneware. Goods were delivered by mule and wagon in Texas and Louisiana. Rocker sold the business, later acquired by Charles Studer. In 1905 Studer turned over the operation to Sam H. Ellis (1861-1938), a blacksmith for the Texas & Pacific railroad. The stoneware business was expanded by Ellis, who employed several family members. New products were added to the line of items made, and the company became one of the largest manufacturers of clay garden pots in the United States. Fire destroyed a majority of the pottery facility in 1962, but it was rebuilt. A retail store was added in 1974, and the pottery operation was promoted throughout the region as a tourist attraction. the Ellis family sold the business in 1983. Most of the commercial potteries in Harrison county trace their roots to the Marshall Pottery, established more than 100 years ago. (1996)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1895 by Kentuckian W. F. Rocker on land rich in spring water and white clay, Marshall Pottery began humbly — six workers, a single wood-fired kiln, a mule-powered grinder, and a kick wheel. Under later owner Sam H. Ellis, a former railroad blacksmith, it expanded into one of the nation's largest makers of clay garden pots and eventually a tourist draw. Nearly every commercial pottery in Harrison County traces its lineage to this enterprise.
Why it matters
Marshall Pottery shows how abundant local raw materials and hand craft could grow into a nationally significant industry rooted in one East Texas town.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · W. F. Rocker
- · Sam H. Ellis
- · Charles Studer
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Weisman-Hirsch House
Marshall, TX
Department store owner Joe Weisman received this Marshall property from his father-in-law before marrying Lena Young in 1881; after the first house burned, this one rose in 1901, designed by C. G. Lancaster, architect of the Ginocchio Hotel. The Weismans' daughter Valerie and her husband Joe Nathan Hirsch later made it their home. For years the residence served as a social center for the Jewish community of East Texas.
C.G. Lancaster
Marshall, TX
Born in Marshall in 1863, Cornelius Granberry Lancaster studied architecture at Texas A&M and returned home to design many of his town's landmarks, from the Ginnochio Hotel to city hall and the Elks Club. In 1895 he partnered with San Antonio architect James Riely Gordon on the Beaux-Arts Harrison County courthouse, and over his long career his work traced the shifting fashions of American architecture from Richardsonian Romanesque to Classical Revival. The Depression forced his practice to close in 1939, after which he supervised WPA projects in Dallas until his death in 1947.
The Hub Shoe Store
Marshall, TX
Mose Weisman opened the Hub Shoe Store on Marshall's East Austin Street in 1897, part of a Bavarian-Jewish family that had made its way from Germany to Syracuse and on to East Texas. His nephew Louis Kariel, a World War I veteran, took over in 1924 and became Marshall's first Jewish mayor—a tradition of civic service his son carried on. The store served the town for more than a century before closing in 2001.
Elks Building
Marshall, TX
Designed by prominent East Texas architect Cornelius Granville Lancaster, the 1903 Elks Building was conceived as a showpiece of Marshall's downtown shopping district. It served as headquarters for Elks Lodge 683, which had organized in 1901 at Newman Hall, and hosted the lodge's meetings and events until 1953. The building remains a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.