Jug, 1870-1902

Jugs for whiskey, cider, and similar liquids were standard productions at the Peoria Pottery Company in the 1870s and 1880s. Not hand-turned, the jugs were formed in plaster of Paris molds that assured great regularity in size, shape, and thickness. Then a distinctive brown glaze, dubbed "Peoria Glaze" by the company, was applied.

Although several small pottery firms operated in Peoria by the late 1850s, the Peoria Pottery Company, opened in 1864, was the most successful, producing large quantities of utilitarian stoneware for 38 years. The pottery's principal owner after 1876 was Lydia Moss Bradley (1816–1908), a wealthy local bank president, philanthropist, and the founder of Bradley Polytechnic Institute (now Bradley University).

Taking advantage of Peoria's excellent transportation networks and the state's extensive clay and coal resources within easy transport distance, Peoria Pottery supplied much of Illinois and the western markets with high quality stoneware products. Salt-glazed stoneware, hand-turned and often with blue decoration, was replaced in the 1870s by molded wares with a distinctive dark Albany-like slipped glaze that often attained a high sheen and a dark pumpkin color—the "Peoria Glaze."

Peoria Pottery's products were utilitarian: fruit and canning jars, butter pots, churns, cuspidors, pitchers, and water coolers, along with bowls, crocks, and jugs in a variety of sizes. Output was prodigious: in April 1875, the Peoria Daily Transcript reported that the pottery produced 500,000 flower pots, 36,000 fruit jars, and 100,000 milk pans each year. They also produced thousands of bricks, along with terra cotta lawn ornaments, window boxes, and umbrella stands. The company's two traveling salesmen, constantly on the road, assured that tons of pottery was sold every day.

After 1888, they also offered a variety of plain or decorated "whitewares" that included pitchers, toiletry, and tableware. According to the Peoria Journal Transcript, Peoria Pottery Company exhibited "fine dinnerware in delicate pastel colors, including pale green and salmon" at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. The pottery ceased business in 1902, as a result of the era's consumers' increasing preference for storage containers of tin and glass.