The Loveless Pottery & Brickmakers

Shortly after the closing of the Harrington Pottery, a new family came to town to mine the rich deposits of the area. The Loveless family were potters near Warren, OH. Their son, George, left the family pottery business when he heard about the clay deposits to be found here in Grand Ledge. George Loveless and his family settled on 12 acres at the corner of West Jefferson and Gulf Streets.

The Loveless Pottery was founded in the late 1850s .Although his farm was located near the clay deposits of Fitzgerald Park, the pottery was located on the east side of town in a hollow at about 205 Franklin Street. The clay was excavated from the large gully behind the shop in the 600 block of East Jefferson and fired in kilns on the property. The Loveless Pottery made household wares such as jugs, crocks and butter churns. They also were the first here to make clay tile which was used to line water wells. His son, George B. Loveless, was a peddler who sold his wares door to door.

In 1887 the railroad was building the trestle and laying the line to Grand Rapids. George Loveless had allowed the railroad graders to work on his property along Gulf Street but no agreement had yet been reached for the right of way. When the workmen were nearing the new trestle, they reached the Loveless property. They found the way blocked by a pile of railroad ties and George Loveless sitting on top with a shotgun. He threatened any that crossed onto his property. The Railroad soon settled payment to him. He was at the time 80 years old.

The first industrial clay products made in Grand Ledge were bricks. Although they were each made by hand, the quantities produced were on a larger scale then the wares produced by the family pottery shops. Due to fires, Grand Ledge underwent a boom of brick construction in the 1870s and local brick certainly helped the effort. Many of stores in the 200 Block of South Bridge date from this time.

The Tinkham Brickyard opened in the late 1860s. This was located on the J.C. Tinkham farm, where Burt Avenue is today. J.C.’s cousin Justice Campbell was a brick maker at the time and likely ran the business.

The Derbyshire Brickyard was opened in the early 1870s. Charles Derbyshire was a retired farmer from Eagle. His brickyard was located on the Harrington Pottery property. It is likely we still see his handmade bricks today. Derbyshire built his own very prominent brick house at 207 East Jefferson (the former Smith Bros Law Office, today the Davis Building.)