Jackson China

[wildcat2]

JACKON CHINA
Made in Falls Creek and sold around the world!
A little history here compliments of Ken Burley
This is out of a book written by James Strano
Notice the Acknowledgments







Post card of Jackson China

[klsm54]

Thanks wildcat2, that is a great account of Jackson China. Thanks to Ken for sharing the book......

[teabab]

For you collectors out there, there is an article on restaurant china in the August issue of "Country Living" magazine and they mention Jackson China. Page 47 & 48 to be exact.

[lizziework]

As I mentioned before, my dad Jake Ritchey was the design coordinator for Jackson for many years. Spending so much time there growing up, I have many great memories of the wonderful folks who worked there.

I always marveled at the fact that for all the years he worked there and all the stories of people "collecting" sets of dinnerware, my Mom never had a complete set of Jackson China!
I'm proud to own a set of Featherweight that was a gift to my Grandma Ritchey from her daughters, Beverley Weber and Janice Steinberg.

[teabab]

Hey Lizzie, you are Lisa Richey right? I am Barb Bukowski Blake in case you didn't know. Did you get to the class reunion? I passed this year, LuAnn, Sue and I couldn't get motivated. We plan on the 50th! Bill says hi.

[3doxies]

I remember going down to the dish piles and searching for treasures. To find something completely intact was great! I'd take them home and paint them up with my acrylic paints, and use them as decorations...vases, pencil holders.

To this day, I turn plates over when dining out in my travels!

[jimnlin]

That's funny ;D !!! I do the same thing with dishes at restaurants. My wife and kids think I'm nuts and tell me it's embarassing whenever I do this. Having spent a year working there after high school with my mom and my Sr. prom date Chris (Raybuck) Straub (ha-ha), I feel like a part of the history. My most recent discovery was at the Diocese of Erie headquarters at the St. Mark Center in Erie. While eating there I came to realize that the majority of thier dishes are Jackson China. I told them of the potential value of the collection, but they just laughed and said they'd been using the dishes for years and plan to continue doing so.

[shadylady]

What a great account of that old place~ We lived right across the street from the entrance (The old Damico place) and used to watch all the cars going home in the afternoon. On week ends I'd go down and find meat platters that my mom used for years! And when my grandma visited from out of town she used to love to go down there and gather dishes! Hard to believe whenever i go passed there that it's all history!

[shamu]

My Grandfather Harry lost his job when the Tannery closed and moved over to work in the slip house. My Uncle Oscar use to tell me stories of carrying three boards of ware at a time on the cup line - one on each shoulder and one balanced on the head. He and my two other Uncles Emery and Henry had worked there as well. I started there in 1967 working for John Spryzack carryiing ware and stayed till 1969 when I went into the service. I worked there a few months after returing from the service in 72. While in Hawaii at the Honolulu International Airport in 1971 I was having a piece of pie in the restaurant there and thought the plate looked familiar. I turned it over and on the back was the print "Jackson Vitrified China, Falls Creek, PA" Wonder how many of those damn Ship mugs we made for the Navy ended up on the ocean floor during the wars.

[shamu]

There seems to be a dispute about the initial location of Jackson China. "looking back" , Thursday Feb 2, 2010 page A2 of the Courier Express- Quote " Falls Creek Board and Art Pottery Co. - Representatives of the Falls Crek Board of Trade and the Bohemian Art Pottery Company met in this town last evening and signed up the agreement that the pottery company has been waiting on for several week.
The action brings negotiations up to the point where it is definitely stated that the work of constructing the necessary buildings will begin winthin ten days.
The agreement signed last night was for a cash sbonus to the pottery company from the Falls Creek Board of Trade.
It was signed by D.T. Cennison, M.A. Duell, H. P. Geiger, D. C. Whitehill and William Delaney for the Borad of Trade while the pottery company was represented by Frank Hahne, L. A. Fischel, M. I. McCreight, W.H. Cannon and several other local men.
The pottery company will immediately take up an option on seven acres of ground for the building site. It is partly on the Fitzpatrick glass factory property and the area includes the box factory and blacksmith shop of that plant.
Neogiations have been on between the Falls Creek people and the pottery company for some months, leading up to the final conference last evening. It is expected that the construction work will begin almost immediately and within sixty days thirty men will be employed. As soon as the market is developed and the plant gets into working order it is expected that over a hundred men will be given employment.
The pottery company has found an abundance of excellent clay in and around Falls Creek; they have the men of experience engaged in the actual work of manufacture. Samples of the work have been made and it has been pronounced first class by those who know, and it is believed that there will be no difficulty experienced in securing a ready market." Unquote

[ttrsld]

This is awesome that I stumbled upon this I enjoy looking up local history and my grandma And grandpa use to work for Jackson china which I thought was cool enough, but to actually see my grandma And grandpa in an article is amazing, and now I know my grandpa painted on glaze This made my day lol thanks.

[72ls5guy]

Wow! What a great read that article was. It really brings back memories from my childhood. I grew up right across the street from the entrance/exit to Jackson China (next door to the old Damico place). Used to swing on the swingset in our front yard watching all the cars leave for the day.

A couple friends & I would go down to the piles of pottery and plink around with our BB guns for hours.

[bcreeree77]

Hi, I am not from Fall's Creek but have come upon your site after finding a rather large supply of Jackson China restaurant ware coffee mugs with the earliest JaXon symbol on the bottom. All are in pristine condition and unpainted (plain white).  I can find nothing similar on ebay and only a very beat up one on etsy.  They are so heavy and nice that it prompted me to research them and I landed here!

[glazingdept]

Worked there in 78/79.
Many good memories!

[honeyq]

Is the book that you show in the post available.  I would love to purchase one.