Spencer & Tabor

Two men were vital in the development of the local tile factories. They also were business partners and friends for over forty years.

James Spencer was born in 1845 in New York and at the age of 21 came to the wilderness of Michigan. Four years later he married Nancy Jones and they farmed in Eagle Township until coming to Grand Ledge in 1874. He then joined in a men’s clothing store called Capwell & Spencer. During this time he and Nancy became friends of Frank and Anne Tabor.

The year of 1877 was exciting for the couple. They built a new home at 622 Jenne Street and James left the clothing business and bought out the interest of Chester Benton in the Taber & Benton meat market. The new Tabor & Spencer meat market soon moved one door south to 223 South Bridge; a new brick building that was built especially for them by S.B. Granger.

The business and friendship both prospered. So much so that within a few years the Spencers left Jenne Street and moved to the corner of Scott and Jackson Streets, right across from the Tabors who lived at 327 Jackson.

At about this same time the partners became instrumental in the promotion of the business opportunities the local clay deposits could offer. In 1886 they were among the founding partners in the Grand Ledge Sewer Pipe Co. Frank Tabor became Secretary-Treasurer of the new firm.

In 1890 the partners sold the meat market and with the profits James Spencer soon moved his frame house to a side lot on Scott Street and built a fine new brick home on the corner at 328 Jackson, where his old house had been.

In 1901, after raising the value of the firm by 400%, the clay factory was sold to an Ohio company. By contract the founders were barred from engaging in any clay related activities for four years. However as soon as the time limit expired Spencer and Tabor began recruiting local businessmen for the formation of a new clay works. In 1906 Grand Ledge Clay Products was born. Again both men took management roles in the company, positions they would hold the rest of their lives.

As stated previously, Clay Products was initially formed to produce clay conduit tile. Aside from its intended use to burry electric lines, it was also used as a building material, substituting for brick. Many utilitarian buildings and even some homes used the less expensive clay conduit. Several of the factory workers used the material to build their own homes near the factories. James Spencer built his carriage barn behind his home from the conduit tile. This can still be seen at 312 Jackson Street, although now painted white.

James Spencer passed away in 1919 and Frank Tabor died in 1924. The Tabor legacy did not end however. Management of the company would pass to his son-in-law Fred Decke and then on to grandson George Decke and finally his great-grandson Brian Decke who would have the sad task of wrapping up at the end when the factory finally closed in 1986.

The Grand Ledge Clay Lion

One fascinating aspect of the clay tile factories was the tradition of clay folk art. In their spare time, workers would use excess bits of clay to create works of art for themselves. The most common and best known are the Grand Ledge Lions. These were made using molds to get the basic form, and then the worker would add his own touches to make it unique. Long-time Clay Products worker, Harry Poole described the process:

“Just before noon some fellows would take some clay and pack the molds tightly. We would then set the molds aside until the next day when we would take the lion out of the mold and smooth it all over by licking your thumb. Some guys put tongues in their lions by using a knife to make the mouth open and then rolling molding clay. The paws, tail and mane were fixed by using a knife or pencil. Then the lion was placed on a sand-covered board and put in the kiln with the tile.”

Each worker would add his own touches to the basic lion shape. Some were left simple, while others had tongues or textured manes. The bases were often decorated with flutes or the makers name or initials and a date. Some lions were turned into banks or bookends.

Beyond lions, a wide variety of other animals were also made. The Historical Society has a wonderful collection of these. Snakes, alligators, lambs, mice, dogs, bears, turtles and frogs all show the creativity of the worker-artisans.

Sometimes we see practical items like ash trays or match stick holders. Indian Heads and Egyptian motifs were also seen. Every now and then, a worker took an entire wet clay tile and embellished it. These tiles were most often turned into umbrella stands made to look like tree trunks with the addition of wonderful bark and even small creepy crawly creatures.

Clay was so important in the lives of these workers, that some made large clay urns or other objects to be used as grave markers. These can still be seen in Oakwood Cemetery today.

Grand Ledge Lions and all of these objects are treasured and collected today. If any of these items are found for sale they bring good prices. Lions that once sold for 50 cents can sell for hundreds of dollars today.

The Clay Process

The clay factories in Grand Ledge all used a similar process to produce their tiles and bricks as noted in The State Journal in 1912:

“The American Sewer Pipe Co. is one of the largest of its kind in the country, and the largest in Michigan. It regularly employs 100 men. The Clay Products Company is almost as large and it gives employment to 90 men. The clay used for the manufacture of the tile by these two factories abounds in large quantities about Grand Ledge, and it is a most interesting sight to visit the pits and watch the fire clay being dug out by the men, loaded on miniature cars and drawn to the mixing machines over a narrow gauge railway. Each of these concerns have 12 large kilns in which the tiles are burned, and the completed product is shipped to all parts of the country.”

The raw material for clay was rock shale quarried from the local clay pits. This was loaded into small rail cars and transferred to the factories. In the early days, the tile plants used mules or horses to pull the cars, while the brick factory used a locomotive. The chunks of shale, some as big as a man, were ground into powder. This was put into a hopper and mixed with water to form clay.

The soft clay was then forced through casting dies to form long clay tubes. These were then sliced by thin wires into individual tile sections or bricks. The fragile wet clay or “green wares” were stacked in drying kilns to remove most of the moisture. If special shapes like “Y” branching tiles were needed, specialist workers called “Branchers” were employed. There job was to cut and paste tiles together by hand to form all special shapes and forms.

Once dried, the tile or bricks were then transferred to the kilns for final firing. Men called “Setters” specialized in stacking the kilns in certain ways to get the best firing of the products. Firing took 50 to 140 hours. For many years, salt was added during firing to create a glass-like glaze on the tiles that made them less permeable to water. After the conversion to gas firing, salt glazing was no longer needed. However, personally I think salt-glazed tile are the most beautiful; the glaze brings out the natural coloring in the clay.

Once the firing was over and the kiln has cooled, gangs of “Pullers” came along to empty the kiln. The tiles or bricks were then stacked in the yard until they were sold. Anything that broke, twisted or fired wrong in the kiln was considered a “clunker” and was removed as unsellable. Clunker tile was often crushed and sold as ground cover, while clunker bricks were thrown into heaps on the edge of the property, where they still remain today. Such deformed bricks would be seen as special “art” bricks today and sold at a premium price.