Edmands and Hooper Pottery Works

Charlestown was famous for its earthenware, dating back to the Provincial Period of the late 1600s. There were huge clay deposits in the area between Medford Street and the Mystic River and early potters used the clay from these pits to make their pots.

By the 18th Century, Charlestown was the heart of the pottery business — there were upwards of 40 potters operating out of eight or nine shops near Austin Street. During their heyday they shipped their red ware north to Maine and south to Cape Cod and to the Connecticut River. At the peak of its prosperity, in 1775, the town, with all its buildings including its pottery shops, were destroyed by fire.

Although many potters never recovered, in 1812 Barnabas Edmands built a pottery on Austin Street where he began to make stoneware. Researchers discovered that red ware was poisonous because of its lead content and Edmands was one of many trying to introduce stoneware as a better alternative. It was a harder ceramic; it burned at a higher temperature, did not leak and was safe to use.

In 1850, Edmands and his family moved their pottery factory to a wharf on the Mystic River, toward the Neck. There, they built large furnaces to replace their out-of-date kilns. Edmands’ sons, Edward and Thomas continued the company as Edmands & Hopper Pottery Works and added the manufacture of drain pipe to the pottery line. The factory produced pottery on the banks of the Mystic River until 1905.

Information for this article was compiled from various resources, including ‘Gaining Ground: a History of Landmaking in Boston’ by Nancy S. Seasholes and ‘Early New England Potters and Their Wares’ by Lura Woodside Watkins.