Syracuse China stands the test of time

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Jul 16, 2004 by Spohr, George

SYRACUSE - Even today, more than a century after its founding, the Syracuse China Co.'s manufacturing operation helps keep Central New York on the map.

Syracuse China, which today is part of Toledo, Ohio-based Libbey, Inc., continues to find its products marketed nationally and manufactured locally. Libbey, a foodservice-industry product manufacturer, purchased Syracuse China in 1995. Since then, Libbey has not only kept the Syracuse China operation local but also invested millions of dollars into the local operation.

Syracuse China's 125-plus years of history now is documented in an exhibit at the Onondaga Historical Association Museum on Montgomery Street, says Dennis Connors, the museum's history curator.

"[Syracuse China] is a product that is really identified with the community, primarily because of its name," says Connors. "Other products that have been made here over the years really have had sort of a national and international significance," but Syracuse China is different because it put its hometown right in its name.

Humble beginnings

The company was founded in 1871 as the Onondaga Pottery Co. in Geddes and named after Onondaga County to celebrate the region's Native American population, according to a Syracuse China biography distributed by Libbey.

In 1871, 16 businessmen who had purchased a struggling local pottery company incorporated that company, raised $50,000 in capital, and expanded its product line to include "earthenware" for table and toilet use.

Libbey's biography calls the Onondaga Pottery Co. "a maverick from the start," because it was located far from centers of ceramic manufacturing - at the time, New Jersey and Ohio - and there were no natural sources of clay or coal in Central New York. Raw materials and fuel had to be transported to the company via railroads and the Erie Canal.

The company hired potters from England who then trained Syracusearea employees. It soon expanded its facilities. At first the company back-stamped its ware with the English Lion and Unicorn Arms. In 1873, it dropped its reference to England and adopted the Great Seal of the State of New York to mark the improvements in its ironstone ware, according to Libbey's biography.

It wasn't until 1884 that Onondaga Pottery's wares became decorated. That year, Elmer Walter established the Boston China Decorating Works Co., giving Syracuse China access to a designer, printer, and hand decorator. In 1886, after fire destroyed the decorating, shop, the pottery hired Walter and his employees and established one of the earliest in-house decorating departments in the industry.

In 1885, Onondaga Pottery founder Richard Pass' son, James Pass, joined the company as its superintendent, later becoming president. During his 28 years as the company's head, he made it a national leader in ceramic research. In 1888, he developed America's first truly vitreous china body, Libbey says. Pass introduced the new products to the public in 1891 with a line of fancy accessory pieces called Imperial Geddo. His new ware won the medal for translucent china at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

It was two years later, in 1895, that the name "Syracuse China" appeared in the back-stamp of this revolutionary china. The company continued to produce the earthenware body until 1897, when it was discontinued. From then on, all ware was and through Libbey - still is made of vitreous "Syracuse China."

The exhibit

The Syracuse China exhibit - titled "Fired Forms of the American Experience" - at the Onondaga Historical Association Museum. focuses largely on the company's use of design in its wares, Connors says.

"There's some aspects of American history that's reflected in this plating," he says. "We try to point those things out. When the arts and crafts movement was big, that had an influence on the [Syracuse China] designs. That's what the exhibit talks about. They are fired forms of the American experience."

Connors describes a cutting-edge manufacturer, not just in design, but in its ability to capture new markets. When railroads became the nation's primary form of long-distance transportation, Syracuse China "made the product for use by railroads in dining cars," Connors says. "It gives you an appreciation for the company beyond simply, 'take a look at their china and say, "That's a pretty plate from an aesthetic standpoint."'

While Syracuse China no longer is a major manufacturer locally, Connors argues that the company's economic impact is more than just how many people they employ, because the product is synonymous with the area.

"People come into contact with it all the time in restaurants, when they're traveling on trains, in private clubs, all over the place, in all parts of the country. For years - and even today - it's been a symbol of pride and identity traveling around, turning plates over, and seeing the name 'Syracuse China,"' adds Connors.

Leading up to Libbey

Syracuse China's parent company underwent a century of mergers and acquisitions before Libbey purchased the company. Outside investors began taking a hard look at the company in 1896, when the Onondaga Pottery Co. introduced a chip-resistant Round Edge product line, but didn't get the company to consider selling until well after World War II. It quickly became the nation's fastest-growing, leading product line for hotels and restaurants.