DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker tells it, and I'm going to give it to you straight from the official record. Now, out here in Limestone County, the ground has always had secrets worth keeping — and one of the best ones was a fine, white clay sitting just beneath the surface, waiting for somebody smart enough to know what to do with it. That clay is called kaolin, and what happened when folks started pulling it out of the earth is a story that runs from the 1840s all the way to 1912.
That's a long time for one patch of dirt to stay busy. A man named Alberry Johnson built the shop that started it all. In the 1870s, that shop was a major industry in a place called Pottersville — later known as Oletha — and the name tells you everything you need to know about what was going on there.
Men dug the kaolin from pits by hand and hauled it to the plant. Then mules took over, grinding that clay down to powder. From there, skilled hands fashioned it into pitchers, jars, crocks, churns, flower pots, and ornamental urns.
Some of those pieces stayed local. Others got shipped right out of the county. This wasn't a hobby operation.
Now, the shop changed hands the way good enterprises tend to — through ambition and commerce. Wm. C.
Knox bought the plant after Johnson, and he had the good sense to hire J. L. Stone as the chief artisan.
Then John Fowler became owner, and around 1900, his son E. J. Fowler joined him.
Father and son, working that same remarkable clay. Here's what makes this kaolin something special — it's not just pottery clay. Historically, kaolin has been used to make fine porcelain and china, the kind of material people think of as coming from distant and sophisticated places.
Yet there it was, right here in Limestone County, ranking alongside gas, oil, and stone as a major commercial resource. Still mined today from deposits nearby, if you can believe it. And this shop was part of something bigger happening all across Texas in the nineteenth century.
Cattle and cotton led the charge, sure, but the list went on — lumber, iron ore, stone, salt, cloth, iron kettles, soap, flour, brick, matches. These enterprises, the marker is careful to say, were crude and not of the luxury type. But crude isn't a small word when you're talking about what built something from nothing.
Those businesses, including this quiet little shop working its fine white clay in the piney edges of Limestone County, initiated the industrial growth of Texas. Not decorated the growth. Not followed the growth.
Initiated it. The potter's wheel has long since stopped turning out here, but the kaolin is still in the ground, and the story, well — the ground kept it safe until we came along to tell it.
What the marker says
The fine, white clay mined near here was used at this shop from the 1840s to 1912 to make pitchers, jars, crocks, churns, flower pots, and ornamental urns, which were used locally and shopped out of county. In the 1870s the shop, built by Alberry Johnson, was a major industry in Pottersville (later Oletha) Wm. C. Knox later bought the plant and hired J. L. Stone as the chief artisan. John Fowler then became owner and was joined by his son E. J. Fowler about 1900. Men dug kaolin clay from pits and hauled it to the plant, where mules provided labor to grind the clay to powder and it was fashioned into ceramics. Historically, kaolin -- still mined today from the deposits nearby -- has been used to make fine porcelain and china. It ranks with gas, oil, and stone as a major commercial resource in Limestone County. During the 19th century, vast natural resources throughout the state were creating new enterprises. Cattle and cotton headed the list of products, which also included lumber, iron ore, stone, and salt, as well as finished articles such as cloth, iron kettles, soap, flour, brick, and matches. These businesses, although crude and not of the "luxury" type, initiated the industrial growth of Texas. (1967)