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, NY and served as a First Lieutenant in the Union Army during the Civil War and later moved to Chicago where he entered into 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.
the Auburn plant closed in 1932. All operations were consolidated with the Renton plant. The Taylor coal and clay mines and the town were condemned by the Seattle Water Department in order to include the area inside an expanded watershed.
     Since the demand for building materials dwindled, the company began to look for new products. The company expanded into tableware.   In 1932, experimental work in Dinnerware began at the Glendale plant in Los Angeles.   In 1934, Gladding, McBean introduced the Franciscan Pottery line of dinnerware and art ware, named after the Franciscan Friars who established missions throughout California in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

California-based Gladding, McBean & Co. began producing Franciscan dinnerware in the 1930s. Their introduction of Franciscan Apple in 1940 heralded a new product line featuring heavily sculpted, embossed dinnerware hand-decorated in brilliant colors. Desert Rose, introduced a year later, became the top selling dinnerware pattern in the world. This comprehensive guide focuses solely on Franciscan hand-decorated embossed dinnerware manufactured in the United States and includes Apple, Desert Rose (and its three variations).

The lines were very successful. In 1937, Gladding, McBean and Co. purchased the Catalina Clay Products Division of Catalina Island Co. The company closed the pottery moving all molds and equipment to the Glendale plant. The company continued to use the tradename of Catalina Pottery on select dinnerware and art ware lines produced in the Glendale plant until 1942. In 1940, the company introduced the hand-painted embossed pattern Franciscan Apple, and in 1941 Desert Rose. Both patterns became the company's most popular patterns.    The company introduced fine china dinnerware in 1942 and due to World War II, discontinued all art ware lines.

After WWII, Gladding, McBean & Co. met the demand for consumer goods by adding and creating new earthenware and fine china patterns, shapes, and lines. In 1962, Gladding, McBean & Co. merged with Lock Joint Pipe Company forming the International Pipe and Ceramics corporation, later renamed Interpace.

Millard Sheets, the well-known California artist was hired as Interpace’s design advisor for Interpace’s dinnerware and tile Franciscan Ceramics Division. Sheets directed the hiring of ceramists to create innovative tableware, tile, and tile murals. Murals were created for Disneyland and Disney World. The largest tile murals were designed and created for the Hilton Rainbow Towers in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Interpace in the 1960s bought Shenango China, Castleton China, Mayer China, and Wallace China. Expanding internationally, Interpace bought Myott Son & Co. and Alfred Meakin (Tunstall) Limited in Staffordshire, England. After Sheets left Interpace in 1973, the recession and high inflation of the 1970s took their toll on the ceramics industry. Interpace sold their Franciscan Ceramics Division in Los Angeles to Wedgwood in 1979. In 1984, Wedgwood moved all production of Franciscan ceramics to England. All products were discontinued except for Franciscan Desert Rose, Apple, and Fresh Fruit. By 2013, all Franciscan branded products were discontinued.


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Note #1: I will combine shipping for multiple items. Please purchase the items but do *NOT* pay. I will review and calculate shipping as close as to what I have to pay. I will then forward an invoice with the adjusted shipping. If you do pay ahead of this recalculation, I will refund the shipping difference as part of preparing the items for shipment.

Note #2: I want you to be happy with your purchase and would appreciate you leaving positive feedback. In the event you are not, please contact me immediately before leaving feedback so we may resolve it. Thank you.  

Note #3: If not previously stated item(s) come from a smoke-free environment with cats.

Note #4: This is a Grandma & Grandpa shop. We have a 4-business day shipping window (this means that if you pay for your order on a Friday, it may not get shipping until the following Thursday). We do combine shipping especially when we are asked about it.

Note #5: If you live in Ohio, we may be willing to do a local pick up or delivery. Depending on where the pick-up is, there may be a small fee. The pick-up fee is always less than the shipping cost. Please contact us before you pay for your order so that we can correct the listing to allow for pick-up.

If you want combined shipping, please purchase all your items in one order. If you purchase items in more than one order, send us a message so that we know about the additional items and box the orders together. (When items are bought in multiple orders, we do not always notice they were bought by the same person unless we are notified by the buyer.) We refund extra shipping charges when combined shipping is requested. If we ship items separately, we do not issue a shipping refund.

For our international customers: YES!! we do combine shipping. The most economical way for you to buy multiple items from us is for you to send us a list of the items you want to buy. Do not purchase them as they are listed!! (This leads to higher than necessary fees & shipping.) Send us a complete list of all the items you want. Then we will cancel the listings for the items and turn them into a special listing just for you (We'll send you the listing named before making it active). It will have your full purchase with the correct shipping box size and weight. This saves you on the international fees & shipping.