Zanesville: City of Clay

Muskingum County and Southeastern Ohio in general is very scenic area to live in, with rolling hills and the Muskingum River in the backdrop makes for a wonderful place to live. However, have you ever thought, what is underneath those charming hills and what natural resources that they hold. Well after a little research I have found that Zanesville may not have “Gold in them hill,” but clay and lots of it.

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While Muskingum County is part of scenic Southeastern Ohio, what is underneath the county has had a much great impact on the area. The city of Zanesville lays on top of the Pennsylvania bedrock, that can be seen as darker blue in Muskingum County in the map above, which is dated to be around 307 to 318 million years old. The Pennsylvania layer has various economical resources within it such as sandstone, coal, shale, clay, iron and limestone.

The abundance of clay/shale and the availability of the Muskingum River allowed a large number of pottery, brick, and tile factories to open in the Zanesville during the 1800’s. One of these companies, the Roseville Pottery Company had four plants in the area employing more than 300 people at its peak. The now defunct Roseville still has a rather large following, with some pieces on Ebay going for a thousand dollars or more! By the end of the century, three major pottery companies had set up shop within which earned Zanesville the title of “Clay Capital of the World”. Zanesville still has a strong tradition with clay that with the one hundred large decorative vases that can be seen in various locations in the city that were produced by artisans and sponsors called Vase in Place, started in 2005, to celebrate Zanesville long history of fine pottery and the clay and shale it is made out of.

Iris-Blue Vase and Raymor-Autumn Brown Coffee Pot by Roseville Pottery

A sample of one of the one hundred vase that celebrates, Zanesville’s long history with pottery.
Click on picture to see more pictures of these cool vases and other photos by the owner of this pic.

Other resources, such as the sands from the Muskingum River have allowed for glass companies to also take root in the area. In 1815, Zanesville’s first glass factory was founded, Zanesville Glass Manufacturing Company. Other factories would be formed in the area to the point that Zanesville would be known as a glass center in the pre-civil war area, but one factory of notable importance was built after this period called the Robinson Glass Company in South Zanesville. Starting in 1893, Robinson produced beautiful glassware that would be used as dinnerware, decoration, and jars. After a scandals involving labor unions and patent disputes by rival companies early within its life, the small company was absorbed by the National Glass Company in 1899 and renamed Robinson Glass Works. By next year the factory was shut down completely and the glass making machinery and the glass molds were moved to other factories that the National Glass Company still operated. Since this factory’s products were of high quality and in such limited quantities, it has become a collectible among some glass collectors.