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Renovation

Cowan Masonry is repairing the bowed north foundation wall. (Submitted photo)

Hidden along Second Street, it houses one of East Liverpool’s oldest potteries. Cowan Masonry was hired by the Ohio History Connection (OHC), owners of the building, to save this historic landmark. The building, along with the Museum of Ceramics, is OHC owned and operated locally by the Museum of Ceramics Foundation.

A major structural failure of the main support beam, located in the basement, was discovered by OHC architect, Meta van Rabenau in August of 2023.

During this routine check, she found the beam had cracked and bent and then, just a month later, it dropped another six inches. It was crucial to get the floor support fixed or risk the collapse of the entire building.

The bowing of the foundation on the north side had also been a concern for several years and was being monitored. Water erosion had caused it to bulge inward.

A broken beam in the 180-year building required immediate attention. (Submitted photo)

Cowan Masonry, owned by Jeremy Cowan, was hired to make repairs. Cowan had recently completed major work on the rooftop of the Museum of Ceramics. They repaired the parapet on the North and West walls, installed copper flashing, and tore it down and rebuilt a large stone chimney.

Their first job at Goodwin-Baggot was to underpin the floor to allow for safe working conditions. The main beam has since been replaced. Additional support was built in front of the north foundation wall to enable them to excavate and remove, clean, and replace the large ashlar stones. As with any OHC excavation, an archaeologist is on site. Goodwin Baggott has no electricity (or water) so generators are being used. A whole new drainage system will also be created.

An interesting discovery was that there was a brick floor in the basement. The floor was covered with decades of mud, giving the illusion it was a dirt floor.

There are also plans to renovate the bottle kiln that stands behind the building. The timing for that is now uncertain. The emergency situation created by the broken beam required costly repairs that weren’t anticipated.

The kiln is also an important landmark as it is the only bottle kiln remaining in downtown East Liverpool. In the 1920s, nearly 300 such bottle kilns dotted the city landscape.

Clay Academy attendees did some plein air painting last summer outside of Goodwin-Baggott, owned by the Ohio History Connection. (Submitted photo)

At its peak operation, Goodwin-Baggot consisted of five buildings and two bottle kilns, and the property extended to the riverfront. This former pottery was not known as “Goodwin-Baggott” during its years of operation. The name results as a shortened version of the name used to place it on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

The application refers to it as the Goodwin-Baggott-Eagle-Mountford Pottery. A timeline of the ownership explains the name: ca 1844-1853, owner, operator, John Goodwin, 1853- ca 1902, owners and operators, Samuel and William Baggott (the pottery was named The Eagle Pottery), and 1902 – ca 1939, Mountford and Son, makers of stilts, pins, and spurs (pottery equipment).

When the Museum of Ceramics opened in 1980, there was talk of making Goodwin Baggott a living history museum for the summer months. Over time, this idea was abandoned because of the prohibitive costs.

The Museum of Ceramics Director, Susan Weaver, promotes the idea of ​​making it a clay and art center. “The building is so wonderful inside. The raw brick walls and wood plank floors are ideal for a center for teaching pottery skills and holding other art classes. And it’s large enough to include a room for lectures and programs. I think East Liverpool is the perfect city to embrace our pottery heritage by becoming an art pottery mecca.”

Any future use of the building would require major funding for electricity, bathrooms, handicap accessibility, etc. Weaver stated, “I think it could happen, I see this town as being in the midst of a renaissance. As we grow, we need to capitalize on our history of being the pottery capital of the nation.”


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