Topsham’s Pottery Connection

Collectibles contain a piece of Topsham

by Charles Francis

Pottery collecting is one of the fastest-growing hobbies today. In fact, it is so popular that it is rare to find many examples of pottery in the myriad of antique stores that one can find in most any Maine town or elsewhere for that matter. Pottery productions from the past, whether they be glazed vases, figurines, jardinieres, or kitchenware are in demand. So too are pottery frogs, alligators, turtles, kittens, rabbits, and birds as well as pottery apples and lemons.

Two of the most popular collectible pottery brands from the past are McCoy and Shawnee. Both began operation in Ohio, the former in Roseville and the latter in Zanesville. Today coffee table books are published almost annually on McCoy and Shawnee productions. Besides containing exquisite photos of particular pieces of each company’s work, the books also give current price listings.

McCoy and Shawnee and other pottery brands from the early 1900s have a decided Maine connection, most notably a Topsham connection. Maine feldspar was a major component of a fair amount of the pottery produced some one hundred years ago, and much of that feldspar came from Topsham. In fact, in the 1920s and ‘30s, Topsham, with two mills and many quarries, produced more ground feldspar than any other town in the United States.

Feldspar ground to an extremely fine consistency is almost universally used in manufacturing pottery, as well as wall and floor tiles. All pottery, except for earthenware such as flower pots, contains feldspar. It is also the chief ingredient in the fine glaze that is applied to the pottery. In addition, feldspar is used in wood fillers and glass, and because it is mildly abrasive, in soft cleaning preparations and soaps.

The first feldspar quarry and mill in Topsham was that of the Trenton Flint and Spar Company of Trenton, New Jersey. Its operation opened in

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the town’s Cathance district in 1869. The company shipped ground feldspar to Trenton to be used in the manufacture of pottery. Topsham’s next feldspar concern was opened by the Maine Feldspar Company in 1912. While there were other feldspar operations in Maine — there were many quarries in Hebron, Rumford and Peru and a grinding mill operated for a time on Commercial Street in Portland — the Maine Feldspar Company was by far the most successful.

The Maine Feldspar Company was first established in Auburn in 1902 by B. Gilpin Smith, who was president, and his nephew Norman Smith, who was treasurer and general manager. Initially, the Auburn plant produced ten tons of ground feldspar a day. This output soon increased to thirty tons a day. However, it was the Maine Feldspar Company’s Topsham plant that was to be the company’s major operation.

Both B. Gilpin Smith and Norman Smith were “from away.” Both were born in Conowingo, Maryland and made their first marks in the business world in the Middle Atlantic states. Both, however, were to make Brunswick their home and become important members of the community there. Their contributions to their adopted hometown, and the role played by the Maine Feldspar Company in Topsham and the surrounding area, is part of the story of Topsham feldspar and its pottery connection.

B. Gilpin Smith and Norman Smith were members of the Society of Friends or Quakers, a sect noted for its commitment to community service. As such, both were active members of the community contributing to a wide variety of community betterment projects and local area businesses in Brunswick and Topsham. These included the Brunswick Development Company and the Rotary.

By the 1920s the finely ground feldspar of the Maine Feldspar Company was in demand all across the country. It was used by the McCoy and Shawnee pottery companies and countless others for this was the period when retailers like Sears, Woolworth’s, and S.S. Kresge ordered their own special pottery designs, and companies like Proctor and Gamble offered pottery as premiums. In fact, many movie theaters even had special pottery nights to attract housewives. Maine Feldspar Company feldspar was also used in Bon Ami soap

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and other abrasive cleaning products.

The Maine Feldspar Company’s Topsham operation was a major employer for the area. Over seventy-five workers made their living at the mill throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s, as well as some fifty more in the company’s quarries. During this period, which was the heyday of Topsham feldspar, the Maine Feldspar Company mill’s production averaged at least forty tons of ground feldspar a day.

In the 1940s the demand for feldspar declined as synthetics began to replace pottery. Today chain stores like Walmart and Sears no longer carry their own specially designed pottery. This is part of the reason why McCoy and Shawnee pottery creations are now prized collectors’ items — collectibles that quite likely contain a bit of Topsham. Hubbard Hall at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ca. 1920. Item # 4247 from the collections of the Maine Historical Society and www.VintageMaineImages.com

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