Philleo & Williams Pottery & Red Wing Terra Cotta Works
Red Wing’s 1st Pottery Factory
In November of 1866, a newspaper article announced that F.F. Philleo of Red Wing intended to start a pottery factory the next season. Francis Fayette Phileo was a pioneer Red Wing resident, arriving at the frontier town in 1856. He gained prominence for his store on Main Street, known as Philleo’s Hall, which housed Olson & Bush’s general store on the first floor, and had a meeting hall on the second story that hosted church services and other fraternal and social meetings and events.
It wasn’t until two years later that an article appeared reporting on a display of,
“… a large and varied assortment of crocks, jars, pickle jars, flower crocks, hanging baskets of all sizes and dimensions, and of good a quality and of as tasty a style and appearance as any made in the country. Mr Philleo says he intends to commence manufacture of this ware on an extensive scale at once, as this is the first bed of clay as yet discovered in the state, so far as he knows.”
Philleo’s original shop, shown here on a circa 1877 plat map, was along the southern city limit in Featherstone Township, along what is now Pioneer Rd in the vicinity of the Red Wing Twin Bluff Water Treatment facility.
The pottery venture was actually run by his eldest son, William M. Philleo, as recorded by the 1870 Federal Census. He purchased a plot of land from his parents along the southern city limits It was reported that he obtained his clay from the Trout Brook area, near the S.B. Foot Tannery. The establishment was named Philleo & Williams Pottery; Williams being the maiden name of his wife, Lucy Janette Philleo, nee Williams. He employed a handful of skilled potters, whose wages he recorded among other expenses in the last several pages of a diary he’d kept as a sergeant during the Civil War.
The products of this company were initially the same earthen and lead-glazed ware described earlier, but by May of 1870 they had begun also making architectural terra cotta window and door caps and moldings. One of their first customers was retired Civil War General, and former Minnesota governor, Lucius Hubbard of Red Wing, who was building a magnificent, three-story mansion on West Fourth Street.
A fire destroyed the factory on July 17, 1870. The moldings for Gen Hubbard’s house were completed in a rebuilt shop, but in 1871, larger quarters were secured in the former factory of the Red Wing Wagon Works on West Main Street at Jackson. With financial backing from local businessmen, T.B. McCord and Philander Sprague, the trade became limited to architectural forms, statuary and flower pots.
In 1874, David Hallum, the foreman and worker Henry Mitchell of Philleo’s shop bought out McCord’s interest. While listed formally as Philleo & Sprague, the company was known as The Red Wing Terra Cotta Works. The firm employed from seven to ten men and achieved a fair degree of success. In 1880, Phileo moved the business to St. Paul, where it operated as Stillman & Philleo until his death in 1885 at age 45.
General Hubbard’s house, erected in 1870 was possibly the first to receive Terra Cotta Window caps and moldings by the Phillio & Williams Pottery. It became St. John’s Hospital around the turn of the Century. After numerous additions, the original, residential portion was razed in the 1960’s, unfortunately, only the carved marble fireplace was salvaged.In 1874, Philleo’s financial partner, Philander Sprague, embellished his new residence with architectural moldings from the Red Wing Terra Cotta Works. This building is still standing on the corner of 3rd & Pine Streets in Red Wing.These shards were dug from the site of the Philleo & Williams Pottery on Hay Creek Road. Jar fragments with crude handles, impressed capacity numbers and various glazes were found, along with jug and bottle snouts, flower pot bottoms and architectural terra cotta ornaments. The majority of pieces found were unglazed earthenware. A smaller number of pieces in various colors of lead-based glazes. A small jar lid and wafers used in kiln stacking were the only intact pieces found among charred timbers from the fire which destroyed the factory in July 1870.Here is a list of prices that Philleo set for ware from his original factory.
Red Wing’s First Industrialized Pottery Influenced by the the work of “Mssrs. Hallam’s (sic),” and believing that a stoneware pottery company could be successful in
