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Gladding McBean history
Gladding McBean company history timeline
By 1883, the company had grown to 75 employees, and it then evolved into a major manufacturer of architectural terra-cotta.
Louis Shubert, head modeler for the Auburn Gladding McBean plant, came from Austria in 1904, originally to produce works for the St Louis World's Fair.
The first Auburn-area clay business began about 1905 when a group of enterprising businessmen in Auburn started Meade Pottery.
In 1908, after a visit by officials of the Winkle Terra Cotta Company of St Louis, Missouri, Meade Pottery joined with Winkle to form the Northern Clay Company.
Early in 1910, Paul S. MacMichael purchased the company and later became president of the local plant.
Mold makers working, Northern Clay Company plant, 1913
Frederick & Nelson department store (John Graham Sr., 1919), Seattle, ca.
The 1920 terra-cotta contracts for the ten-story Telephone Building were won for a combined amount of approximately $50,000.
In 1923, the company acquired a majority holding in Tropico Potteries (a producer of faience and floor tile producting) giving GMcB access to additional plant and mining facilities as well as new product lines.
In 1924, they added garden pottery to the product lineup selling through wholesalers or pottery yards.
In 1925, the largest producer of clay products on the West Coast, Gladding McBean & Co. from Lincoln, California, bought the Northern Clay Company including the Auburn plant.
Finished by the summer of 1925, the Bishop House was built with the same blueprints at the William Mead house next door.
With all those spectacular buildings from which to choose, it is remarkable indeed that Gladding, McBean selected a small, but exceedingly lovely fountain just installed at the Roland Bishop House in Palm Springs for its print advertisement in 1926.
American Encaustic had purchased Proutyline Products of Hermosa Beach in 1926.
By 1927, Northern Clay Company's name was changed to Gladding McBean, Auburn Plant.
In March 1929, Seattle Star journalist Harry B. Mills visited the Auburn plant and wrote:
In 1929 the stock market crashed -- it was the beginning of the Great Depression.
By 1931, the company was teetering on bankruptcy and needed to find new products to bring to market.
Lack of work and overhead costs closed the Auburn plant of Gladding McBean & Co. in December 1932.
In 1932, seeing Bauer Pottery and Pacific Pottery‘s success with consumer pottery, they began experimenting with making dinnerware.
As part of that purchase, they acquired Prouty tunnel kilns essential for the efficient production of dinnerware in 1933.
The company began producing dinnerware in the Glendale plant in 1934 under the leadership of Frederic J. Grant.
GMcB quickly followed with the Coronado line in 1935.
GMcB is also credited with marketing the first “starter sets” of dinnerware in 1936: four place settings bundled together in a single package and popular as wedding gifts.
GMcB established the Hermosa Beach plant as the headquarters for their tile production under the trademarked Hermosa Tile brand until 1937.
In 1954, Gladding McBean built new offices and a warehouse on Elliott Avenue in Seattle, and a new lab building for the Renton facility.
By the end of its long run in 1954, GMcB glazed El Patio in approximately 20 different colors.
The company continued to operate as Gladding McBean & Co. until 1962 when it merged with Lock Joint Pipe Company to become known as International Pipe and Ceramics Corporation, later changing the name to Interpace.
Facing hard times, GMcB sold the Franciscan division to English pottery company Wedgwood in 1979.
In 1990 Gladding McBean began to reproduce a line of gardenware using the original molds and methods that have not changed since the plant began.
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Gladding McBean competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra Pacific Industries | 1949 | $830.0M | 3,500 | 162 |
| The Coleman Company | 1900 | $900.0M | 3,500 | 7 |
| Hendrick Manufacturing | 1876 | $34.0M | 117 | 13 |
| Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co | 1939 | $13.8B | 12,800 | 147 |
| The Fiesta Tableware Company | 1871 | $160.0M | 750 | - |
| Simpson Manufacturing Co | 1956 | $2.2B | 2,500 | 30 |
| Burlingame Industries | 1969 | $62.0M | 200 | 4 |
| Logan Clay Products | 1950 | $18.3M | 100 | - |
Gladding McBean history FAQs
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Gladding McBean may also be known as or be related to GLADDING MCBEAN, Gladding Mc Bean & Co, Gladding McBean and Gladding, McBean LLC.