Cooper Hewitt says...
The Homer Laughlin Pottery Company was founded in East Liverpool, Ohio, by the brothers Homer and Shakespeare Laughlin in 1871, originally under the name of Laughlin Pottery. The brothers received $5,000 in seed money from the East Liverpool City Council to build and operate a plant that produced white ware like that being imported from England at the time. Their white granite ware won an award in 1876 at the United States Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. When Shakespeare left the company in 1877, it was renamed the Homer Laughlin China Works. Homer decided to retire in 1897 and sold the business to the Wells family. The company expanded rapidly under the new leadership, adding several more production plants between 1899 and the early 1920s. The brightly colored Fiesta line, designed by Henry Hurten Rhead and introduced in 1936, became the company’s most popular design. The line was discontinued in 1973, but sales in the scondary market were so strong that the company reintroduced it in 1986, marking its fiftieth anniversary. Fiesta is still in production today.
