A group that celebrates pottery with historic local ties will meet in June
A club that celebrates pottery that dates, in some cases, to before the Civil War, will hold a gathering in June in Huntingburg, Indiana.
The Uhl Pottery Collectors Society will meet June 24-25 in the Dubois County town's event center.
The club formed in 1985 as a nod to A & L Uhl Pottery Company, which was founded in Evansville in 1849 by August and Louis Uhl, brothers who immigrated from Germany. The Uhls originally opened their factory in Downtown Evansville at Ninth and Sycamore streets, making mostly utilitarian items out of clay.
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However, they soon realized they needed better clay and found another source near Huntingburg. This clay was mined and shipped to Evansville, where it was made into crocks, jugs, flower pots and even sewer pipes.
In 1909, the company moved production to Huntingburg, where it built a new factory and kiln to be closer to the clay source. The business office remained in Evansville, however. Business took off after the move, and the company began shipping out several railroad cars filled with various pottery items each day.
At its peak, the company produced a million items a year, over 1,000 different pottery items, and shipped to every state in the continental U.S., said club president David Montgomery. Jugs were popular among bootleggers during Prohibition, and one in particular was marked as a five-gallon jug but only held four and a half gallons, giving bootleggers a bigger profit, he said.
Four generations of Uhls were involved with the company before it was forced to close its doors in 1944 due to labor issues and competition from cheaper foreign glass. Only 20 percent of the pottery bears the Uhl logo, but collectors can recognize it by its distinctive size, patterns, shapes, and colors.
Dan Hadley has belonged to the club for 35 years and bought his first piece of Uhl pottery in 1970 for his mother. He said that Uhl pottery was so widespread that every Southern Indiana woman likely had an Uhl mixing bowl in her kitchen.
The club has over 200 members nationally and 800 followers on Facebook, but “as collectors are getting older, my hope is to keep the love of collecting alive,” Montgomery said.
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Russ Uhls is a distant relative of August and Louis Uhl, whose name mistakenly received an “s” at the end when his family came to this country. Uhls created the group's Facebook page and website, and offered purchases online in an effort to appeal to younger people.
Though membership is required to attend the annual gathering, it can be obtained for $20. Applications and attendance forms for this year’s event are available online at www.uhlcollectorssociety.com. This year’s event will feature a banquet, guest speakers, displays, an auction, and an annual scholarship.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Uhl Pottery Collectors Society will meet in Huntingburg, Indiana
