Title: American Terra Cotta Company Papers
Dates: 1905-1964
Size: ca. 200 ft.
The American Terra Cotta Company was founded in 1881 as a drain tile factory by W.D.Gates. In 1888, the company took the name American Terra Cotta Company and established a plant near Crystal Lake, Illinois, outside of Chicago. In the years following, the company expanded its operations by absorbing other firms, chiefly the Indianapolis and Midland Terra Cotta Companies. Indianapolis Terra Cotta was founded in 1883 at Indianapolis and purchased by American Terra Cotta in 1918; Midland was begun in 1910 in Chicago and operated as an independent firm until its absorption by American Terra Cotta about 1930. In 1966, American Terra Cotta ceased to manufacture clay products and continued in business exclusively as a foundry. The firm exists today under the name T.C. Industries, still based at Crystal Lake.
The collection contains shop drawings in ink on linen, paper and prints from the American, Indianapolis, Midland, and Winkle Terra Cotta Companies plus hundreds of photographs (prints and negatives), office indexes, order books, and advertising brochures. Midland and Winkle Terra Cotta Companies are represented only by shop drawings (plans prepared in the factories to guide contractors in the placement of the terra cotta pieces on individual buildings). Midland jobs begin in June, 1911, and continue to September, 1938, making it a very complete collection of that firm's work during the period. Projects by Winkle Terra Cotta of St. Louis span the period from 1894 to 1955, but it is a very incomplete file. For Indianapolis Terra Cotta, there are some photographs as well as shop drawings, concentrating on buildings in Indiana with a few in immediately adjacent states. The collection covers the years from 1908 to 1925, but, like Winkle, is quite incomplete.
The bulk of the records are those of the American Terra Cotta Company and consist largely of shop drawings and photographs from the firm. The shop drawings in all cases show very few details of the buildings' designs with only a rough outline of the terra cotta design sketched in. What they do show, however, is the exact location and method of placement of the individual terra cotta pieces on the exterior or interior of each building, thus facilitating replacement and restoration of existing terra cotta ornamentation.
The entire collection has been indexed in the publication, The American Terra Cotta Index, prepared by Statler Gilfillen (Chicago: The Prairie School Press, 1973), available at many libraries and archives throughout the U.S.
Over 500 images from this collection are available in an online image database.
Access: 1