Manufacturer Notes: Robinson-Merrill Pottery CompanyCombined Knocked Out.Akron, O., Dec. 30.--Any chance of forming a combination of the pottery manufactures is knocked out. The E. H. Merrill Co., Whitemore, Robinson & co. and Markle & Son withdrew from the Akron Pottery company, which was a combine of local corporations to enter the independent field. They will consolidate under the name of Robinson-Merrill Co., capitalized at $500,000. The Coshocton Age (Coshocton, Ohio) January 5, 1900. _______________________________________________________________________________________ ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION MANUFACTURING COMPANIES -Continued Corporate Name Location Purpose Filed Capital Stock 1899 Robinson-Merrill Pottery Company......| Akron......| clay wares, etc.| Dec 30| 500,000 Kinney, Charles; Annual Report Of The Secretary of State To The Governor Of The State Of Ohio For The Year Ending November 15. 1900 (Columbus, Fred. J. Herr, 1900) _______________________________________________________________________________________ POTTERIES COMBINED. AKRON, O., Feb, 13--The combination of three large potteries was perfected today. It includes the Whitmore-Robinson company, Markle & Son and the E, H, Merrill company. Deeds transferring the plants to the Robinson-Merrill company were filed today. The company is capitalized at $500,000. The Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, Nebraska) February 14, 1900 _______________________________________________________________________________________ Summit County. Robinson Merrill Pottery Co....................Akron Biddison, E. G.; Twenty-Sixth Annual Report of The Chief Inspector of Mines to the Governor of the State of Ohio For The Fiscal Year 1900 (COLUMBUS, FRED. J. HEER, 1902) _______________________________________________________________________________________ No 242— Factory— The Robinson Merrill Pottery Co. (Akron), August 5, 1902— Provide belt-shifters for all shift-belts not so provided. Complied. Morgan, J. H.; Nineteenth Annual Report of the Department of Inspection of Workshops, Factories and Public Buildings To The Governor Of The State of Ohio For The Year 1902 (Springfield, Springfield Publishing Company, 1903) _______________________________________________________________________________________ $2,000,000 SEWER PIPE COMBINE AKRON, Ohio, Jan 3--Official announcement was made today of the combine of the following independent sewer pipe concerns with a capital of $2,000,000. Robinson Merrill Pottery company, Akron, Ohio, The Crown Fire Clay company. Canal Dover. Ohio, The Royal Sewer Pipe and Brick company Millville, Ohio, The Lockhaven Sewer Pipe company Lockhaven, Pa., and the canton and Malvern Fire Brick Paving company Malvern, Ohio. Officials claim it is more of a centralization of interests than a trust. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana) January 4, 1903 _______________________________________________________________________________________ THE CERAMICS OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION. BY S. GREIJSBEEK, St. Louis Mo. INTRODUCTION. The Ceramic exhibits of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held in St. Louis, in 1904, were in a sense the best which had ever been brought together for such purposes. The foreign exhibits proved especially instructive for the American Ceramic amateur and manufacturer, and they demonstrated plainly the great advance which foreign countries still have over us in the manufacture of finer ceramic products. ......... ........The Aetna Fire Brick Co., of Oak Hill, and the Toronto Fire Clay Co., of Toronto, had made good exhibits of their products. The Harbison Walker Co., of Portsmouth, and the Robinson Clay Products Co., of Akron, showed only a few samples of their products. The exhibits might have been labeled better so as to give more intelligent information. Orton, Edward; Transactions Of The American Ceramic Society Volume VII-Part I (Columbus, American Ceramics Society, 1906) _______________________________________________________________________________________ The Robinsons, who had been potters for generations, came to Akron in 1856 from Staffordshire, England, stopping first at the pottery center of East Liverpool, Ohio. They were Henry, Thomas and William Robinson, and two brothers-in-law, James Manton and Richard Whitmore, also of Staffordshire. As Whitmore Robinson they began to manufacture Rockingham yellow ware that same year, expanded into sewer pipes and other lines as Robinson Brothers in 1879, and finally as the $3,000,000 Robinson Clay Products company in 1902. They played an important part in the city's business life for many years. Allen, Hugh; Rubber's Home Town The Real-Life Story of Akron (New York, Stratford House, 1949) _______________________________________________________________________________________ In 1900 the clay products business shifted around toward a more solid and substantial form of organization. Whitmore, Robinson and Co. merged with the E. H. Merrill Co. as the Robinson, Merrill Co. Two years later this was changed to the Robinson Clay Product Co. The American Sewer Pipe Co. had meantime absorbed a great many of the smaller plants. These two companies became the principal clay manufactories. www.akronhistory.org Go To North American Soda & Beers Home |