In April of 1910, The Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Company, located in Roseville, Ohio, was formed by Nelson McCoy and his father J. W. McCoy.

They began to manufacture and sell functional and decorative stoneware. They also mined, bought and sold clay. This part of their business provided clay to many of the area potteries for several years.

Chronological Events

1848 - Small Factory opened by W. N. McCoy
1886 - J.W. McCoy opened Williams & (JW) McCoy Pottery Co.
1890 - Merged & Renamed Kildow, Williams & McCoy Pottery Co.
1892 - (approx) - Renamed Midland Pottery Co.
1898 - Sold to Roseville Pottery Co.
1899 - J.W. McCoy Pottery Company by J.W. McCoy, continued to 1911 when George Brush acquired controlling interest and it became "Brush-McCoy Pottery Co.
1918 - McCoy family sold interest in Brush-McCoy but name did not change til 1925 (at this point, Brush Continued until 1982 when it closed)

"Brush Pottery Co. of Roseville, Ohio." Nelson believes this is Jay Cusick on the Right. If you know who is on the left please tell me.

1910 - J.W. McCoy assisted his son, Nelson, in establishing Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware
1933 - (approx) - The Company simplified the name to Nelson McCoy Pottery Co. and operated this way until 1967
1967 - Sold to Mount Clemens Pottery Co. (Nelson McCoy, Jr. continued to work at McCoy until 1981)
1974 - Sold to Lancaster Colony
1985 - Sold to Designer Accents & merged with their company, and renamed to Nelson McCoy Ceramics

In 1990 the McCoy Pottery ceased operation after a number of declining years of sales and profit. While it is sad that a Century of existence ended for the company, it lives on through the many collectors and individuals that appreciate the art form known as "Art Pottery".

Throughout its almost 100 years of existence the McCoy family maintained ownership of the company and the president of the company was a McCoy through 4 generations.

The company continued to grow as the economy grew and was considered to be the premise manufacture of art pottery in the U.S. At the zenith of the company's existence, the employment had grown to over 450, many of which were sons and daughters, sisters and brothers of the artisan who passed the trade on to their families. Even surviving a major fire in 1950, which destroyed the pottery, the plant was rebuilt and expanded several times and grew to over 200,000 sq. ft. and was able to produce on average a 50,000 pieces a day.