Harker, Taylor and Company Water Cooler

Harker, Taylor and Company of East Liverpool made this yellow ware water cooler. The solid yellow body is covered with a decorative glaze and a red ware plaque. It was probably made to enter in a national competition. Harker, Taylor and Company won a silver medal for its products in a national competition in 1848. Yellow ware and red ware pottery were two of the most common types of pottery manufactured in East Liverpool during the nineteenth century because of the large amounts of clay that could be found in the area. Before the invention of refrigeration, people used water coolers to keep water colder than room temperature. It measures 19" by 21" (48 by 54 cm). Harker, Taylor and Company were known for their high-quality Rockingham pottery, a brown-glazed type of pottery named for the Rockingham factory in England, and their yellow ware. Benjamin Harker Sr., an English immigrant, bought a farm near East Liverpool, Ohio in 1839 and soon realized it was rich in clay deposits. He sold the clay and eventually opened his own pottery, although he was not a potter. He leased the pottery to local potters, but the venture was not successful. Harker then hired potter John Goodwin to train his sons Benjamin Jr. and George in the pottery trade. In 1846 the Harkers were joined by James Taylor to create Harker, Taylor and Company. The pottery was manufactured at the company's three-story "Etruria" factory, named after the Wedgwood Company's factory in England