Popular taste demanded a finer ceramic tableware than the heavy pottery made by these companies. Onondaga Pottery started producing a heavy earthenware called "Ironstone" but struggle to succeed. In 1873, they began manufacturing a "white graniteware" and then in 1885 a semi-vitreous ware. A year later they replaced this with high fired china and a guarantee that the glaze would not crackle or craze - the first time American-made tableware carried such a warranty. It was at this point, 45 years after the start of pottery production in Syracuse that the pottery business showed a stable and profitable prospect.
Under President James Pass, O.P.Co. developed a new china body and won the medal for translucent china at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Around 1888, Pass developed the a vitreous, translucent, and non-absorbent clay body. It was released to the public after 1890 as Imperial Geddo, and made the company the industry leader. The company also manufactured electrical porcelain circuit breakers and insulators.[1]
In 1897 production turned to the vitreous china body. Its first colored china body, "Old Ivory," appeared in 1926. The company thrived with its hotel and railroad sales. The narrow-bodied "Econo-Rim" was tailored for the cramped table space of dining cars. Highly sought after collectible patterns sell regularly on eBay and at estate sales.
Onondaga officially changed their name to Syracuse China in 1966 after their most popular line of products.[2] The company was renowned for its fine china designs until 1970 when it limited its production to mostly restaurant dinnerware.