Surviving The Great Depression
The company was hit hard by the Great Depression. Art pottery became a low priority for available cash and architects couldn’t afford Rookwood tiles and mantels. Mass production potteries churned out cheap look-alikes. By 1934 the company showed its first loss, and by 1936 was operating an average of just one week a month. On April 17, 1941, it filed for bankruptcy. Through these tough times, ownership of the company changed hands but the heart of the company, the Rookwood artists, remained and high quality pieces still left the Rookwood studios.
In 1959 Rookwood was purchased by the Herschede Clock Company and production moved to Starkville, Mississippi. Unable to recover from the losses experienced during the Great Depression, production ceased in 1967.
By 1982, Rookwood was in negotiations to be sold to overseas manufacturers. Michigan dentist and art pottery collector, Dr. Arthur Townley used his life savings to purchase all of the remaining Rookwood assets. Throughout his tenure as Rookwood’s owner, Dr. Townley produced small quantities of pieces to maintain original trademarks. He continuously sought the means to return the company to its historic location and artistic prestige.
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Famous quotes containing the words surviving and/or depression:
“For my own part, I commonly attend more to nature than to man, but any affecting human event may blind our eyes to natural objects. I was so absorbed in him as to be surprised whenever I detected the routine of the natural world surviving still, or met persons going about their affairs indifferent.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand-daughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said “On the line!” The Reconstruction said “Go!” I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)