Gladding, McBean
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| Private | |
| Industry | Ceramic manufacturing |
| Predecessor | Gladding, McBean & Company |
| Successor | International Pipe & Ceramics (Interpace) |
| Founded | 1875 |
| Founder | Charles Gladding, Peter McGill McBean and George Chambers |
| Headquarters | Lincoln, California, United States |
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Key people
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Pacific Coast Building Products, President & CEO, Dave Lucchetti |
| Products | Clay sewer pipe, chimney tops, roof tile, and terracotta garden ware |
| Parent | Pacific Coast Building Products, Inc. |
| Website | www.gladdingmcbean.com |
Gladding, McBean is a ceramics company located in Lincoln, California. It is one of the oldest companies in California, a pioneer in ceramics technology, and a company which has "contributed immeasurably" to the state's industrialization. During the heyday of architectural terra cotta, the company "dominated the industry in California and the Far West."
Charles Gladding (1828–1894) was born in Buffalo, New York, served as a first lieutenant in the Union Army during the Civil War, and later moved to Chicago, where he engaged in the clay sewer pipe business. He came to California in 1874 looking for new business opportunities. While in California, he read an article in a San Francisco newspaper about a large clay deposit near the town of Lincoln, California. Investigating, Gladding verified that it was an "unusually fine deposit of white kaolin clay" located close to a railroad line., and selected the spot as the site for a new business. Gladding, along with Peter McGill McBean and George Chambers, established Gladding-McBean in 1875. Its original product was clay sewer pipe. By 1883, the company had grown to 75 employees, and it then evolved into a major manufacturer of architectural terra-cotta. Peter McBean became president of the company after Charles Gladding's death in 1894, and his son Athol McBean later served as chairman of the board.
In June 1923, the company acquired the controlling stock of Tropico Potteries, Inc. of Los Angeles. In 1925,the company purchased all the holdings of the Northern Clay Products Company including the Auburn, Washington terra cotta plant. In 1926, the company merged with the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company. After this merger, the company had plants in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Point Richmond, and Alberhill, California. The former Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company's plant at 922 Date Street became Gladding, McBean's Los Angeles plant.
In 1927, the company acquired the holdings of the Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company which included the terra cotta plant in Renton, Washington, the plant and mines in Taylor and Mica, Washington. The company closed their plant in Van Aselt, Washington in 1927. Tropico Potteries, Inc. filed for dissolution of the corporation in 1928 merging with Gladding, McBean. The former Tropico Potteries's plant at 2901 Los Feliz Boulevard became the company's Glendale plant.
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Wikipedia