The Kimik kiln historical marker will be dedicated in Limestone County today. The story: INTRODUCTION Archeologists first recorded the Kimik kiln site, 41LT198, in 1984 near the former community of Headsville in Limestone County, Texas. This site consisted of the remains of a pottery kiln and associated artifacts, as well as a domestic artifact scatter representing a possible residential component. Archival research shows that this site was associated with Lee Kimik, a potter from Germany, who owned the property in the late nineteenth century. The Kimik kiln site represents Kimik’s German influence on kiln architecture and has a potential for revealing significant archeological information about nineteenth century pottery kilns in Limestone County. CONTEXT During the nineteenth century, Limestone County was home to numerous pottery producing kilns of various sizes and production capacities. This early industrial development was due in large part to the presence within the county of a number of significant outcroppings of kaolin, or potter’s clay, found within the limits of the Wilcox formation. Researchers at the University of Texas have conducted several studies of this resource over the years, beginning around the turn of the twentieth century. Heinrich Reis, in his Clays of Texas (1908), discussed the various types of clay found in northern Robertson and southern Limestone counties. A. D. Potter and David McKnight continued this analysis in The Clays and Ceramic Industries of Texas (1931). Reis identified significant clay deposits in Robertson County at Bremond, in Falls County at Denny, and outside of Headsville near the Kimik kiln. The Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas further studied these formations as part of a Works Progress Administration survey in 1936. In the study, the author described the deposit as located: “2 ½ miles east of Kosse northward to a point 7 miles southeast of Groesbeck and north to points about one-half mile east of La Salle and Fallon respectively. The formation enters Freestone County at a point nearly 17 miles from the Leon-Limestone County line. The width of this deposit is about 3 miles…there is a repetition of these characteristic sands and clays farther toward the southeast in the county. This repetition takes place from a line drawn 2 miles west of Oletha to a point about 3 miles northwest of Farrar….The width of this belt is from 2 miles near Oletha to about 3 miles going northeasterly.” The availability of such quantities of clay resulted in the emergence of an important pottery-manufacturing element in Limestone County that existed alongside and in support of the more prevalent agricultural sector. A 1984 interview with Dr. Georgeanna Greer, an expert in nineteenth century pottery making in Texas, revealed some useful specifics about the industry in East Texas. According to Dr. Greer, the shop where the vessels were shaped and formed usually consisted of a log cabin with a dirt floor located near the kiln. Most potteries were small-scale operations in which a shop owner usually employed three to five persons. If he was not the master potter, one of his employees held that position and was responsible for designing the vessels and supervising the shop. In addition, there were one or two turners working under the master potter, and one or two persons employed in plugging the clay. This process involved cutting a ball of clay with wire and squeezing it repeatedly to draw out the air pockets. Few potters relied solely on their craft for their livelihood. They often engaged in farming as well and lived near their shops. Although there were several kilns located in the area, Alberry Johnson was likely the first to establish a pottery in Limestone County. Information in the Texas Historical Marker files indicates that Johnson began his business about 1859 on the Springfield and Pottersville Road at Dooley Creek. He appears in the 1860 census of Limestone County, which helps to confirm this approximate date. Like other local and regional potters, the Johnson kiln was of the groundhog variety popular in the southern United States during the late nineteenth century. The outline of the kiln was still visible when archeologists recorded the site (41LT122) in 1978. Groundhog kilns gained prominence in the nineteenth century and were used in the manufacture of “alkaline glazed pottery.” Folklorist Charles G. Zug III describes the groundhog kiln as “semi-subterranean” with a doorway leading to a long underground passage constructed of brick or rock known as the “ware-bed.” At the end of the passageway, a chimney rose out of the ground. Workers loaded the ware into the ware-bed and built a fire in the “sunken firebox” outside of the doorway to the passage. The heat from the fire was “drawn” through the passage by the chimney and “burned” the pottery inside.” Johnson operated his shop for approximately ten years (ca. 1869) before he sold it and his equipment to William Curtis Knox. Knox subsequently moved the equipment to a site about two miles northwest of the present town of Oletha in an area known as Pottersville. Knox then hired J. L. Stone as his chief artisan. There is no record of Knox’s purchase of the land because the Limestone County Courthouse at Springfield burned in 1873, but the graves of Knox’s wife Minerva and her son Charles E. Knox are marked 1871 in the Potter’s Shop Cemetery, indicating that Knox owned the land by 1871 at the latest. Some years later, Knox sold the property to John Fowler of Redding, Pennsylvania. Fowler, and later his son, operated the potters shop through the early twentieth century. Like his predecessors, Fowler’s kiln was also a groundhog type with chimney. Fowler died in 1910, and the shop closed circa 1912 due to a decrease in consumer demand for stoneware crockery during the period. According to Stephanie Panus, the shop was once “…one of the largest of its kind in Texas…employing as many as sixty workers.” Its size and longevity, as well as the diversity and quality of its products, made the kiln unique in the region. An Official State Historical Marker (OSHM) erected in 1967 currently commemorates the “Old Potter’s Shop,” and the archeological component (41LT11) was recorded in 1973. Another regional pottery was located approximately 2.5 miles northeast of Farm-to-Market Road 937 near Old Union. A local informant, Earl Thompson, recalled that Louie and Douie Stone, twin sons of J. L. Stone (chief artisan for Knox), operated a pottery near the Robert’s Cemetery Road during the early twentieth century (41LT197). This information has not been confirmed by primary documentation. The kiln at this site was unique in the area, as it was of the round updraft or simple beehive type more common in the northern United States. J. L. Stone moved to Texas from the north circa 1870, so it was not unusual that his sons employed that kiln configuration. Archeologists estimate that the kiln was active from 1915-1925. Three other potters’ shops existed in the vicinity as well, all near or outside of the town of Kosse. John Dimelow, an Englishman, and John W. Moss built an experimental pottery kiln in 1870. The Kosse Fire Brick and Tile Company operated in Kosse from approximately 1875-1890 producing brick, tile, and stoneware. There was also a potters shop on the Betty Hohn farm east of Kosse. Finally, the Kimik kiln and pottery, which operated during the late nineteenth century, was a small-scale operation just across the Robertson county line from the community of Headsville. The kiln supplied local residents with affordable utilitarian wares and building materials. Although he used a groundhog kiln, Kimik’s design had longer and deeper sidewalls than the traditional southern configuration. Dr. Georgeanna Greer revealed that the unusual design of the kiln reflects Old World German architectural influences not typically seen in Texas. It is evident from the large quantity of wadding at the site and the height of the kiln that Kimik stacked his greenware for firing. He also used a lot of salt glaze. It probably took several potters from two to three weeks to produce a sufficient quantity of greenware to fill the kiln. Though similar to its counterparts in some respects, the Kimik kiln has its own unique characteristics that make it important as both an archeological and historic site. OVERVIEW The Kimik kiln site is located approximately half a mile north of Highway 7 on Head’s Creek in Limestone County, Texas. The kiln was owned and operated by Lee Kimik, an immigrant from Wertenberg, Germany, from approximately 1875 to 1883 and was part of a local pottery industry that developed in the vicinity of high-quality clay deposits in Limestone County. Archival research indicates that Kimik likely sold his pottery in the nearby town of Headsville, a small rural community in neighboring Robertson County that existed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It differed from other nearby rural communities, such as Willow Creek (Robertson County) and Heads Prairie (Limestone County), which were merely collections of farmsteads united by their local school. Instead, Headsville was better defined and, perhaps, had a greater sense of identity. This sense of community may explain why the name Headsville has survived even though virtually all physical remains have disappeared. The remnants of the Kimik kiln represent the last vestiges of a vanished community, and the pottery operation stands out as an example of a rural commercial enterprise that may have provided goods for sale through shops in Headsville. The kiln site is located on a 15.2-acre tract in the Jarrett Young Survey that was originally part of the Bardin King homestead. The tract was partitioned in 1875 when King sold 15 acres of land to Lee Kimik for $150.75. Ad valorem tax rolls reflect this transaction, noting Kimik as owner of 15 acres of land in the Young Survey valued at $500. Though this assessment is considerably more than the purchase price, possibly indicating the construction of improvements after his acquisition of the property, in subsequent years, the land was valued much less. In 1877, the land was worth $75, and the following year it was valued at $60. Soon thereafter, Kimik increased his landholdings to 52.5 acres, an area sufficient to include a homestead, a kiln, and related pottery-making facilities. Despite the uncertainties that arise from comparison of these amounts, tax records still reveal useful information about the history, development, and use of the land. By 1877, the State Comptroller had added a new category to its tax assessment forms that accounted for any tools, implements, and machinery that an individual possessed. Research revealed that Kimik did not pay taxes on any such articles until 1879, when he was cited for $300 worth of equipment. The following year, Kimik appeared as a “turner in pottery” in census returns, and the Products of Industry Schedule described him as a potter who produced stone and earthenware. Subsequent archeological investigations have confirmed this information. Within the Industry Schedule, Kimik listed his employees, three of which were over sixteen years old, and revealed that his business remained in full-time operation for eight months during the year. For the next two months, his business functioned at three-quarters capacity, and it operated half time for the remainder of the year. Kimik paid skilled laborers an average of $5 in daily wages, while he paid unskilled workers $3. That year, he claimed $2,000 worth of capital and products valued at $3,000. As Kimik’s enterprise only operated in the years between the 1870 and 1880 censuses, no evidence exists to identify the ethnicity of his employees. Additional tax and census research indicated that Kimik’s business was profitable between 1875 and 1881. However, on July 13, 1882, Kimik unexpectedly sold his 52.5 acres with “…all of the appurtenant improvements and the Potter shop entire with the kiln or furnace for burning wares with all the improvements tools, lathes, molds, mills and everything connected with said pottery business…and all the brickmaking apperatus [sic,] situated on said land” to David Wilson for $1,000. The $20 per acre value of this transaction is the highest value noted for improved land in the region between 1835 and 1881. Wilson retained the land and all improvements for several years; however, tax rolls do not refer to any tools or equipment on the property. In 1884, J. L. White briefly acquired the tract in a tax sale at the county courthouse for $52. No record exists of White engaging in pottery making. Nonetheless, when R. H. Williams acquired the land in 1890, the transaction record mentions the tract “known as the Potter shop” and “…all buildings, furnaces, brickwork and belongings….” Although improvements obviously existed at that time, Williams paid only $175 for this and two other parcels of land totaling about 51 acres. The 1890 census for Texas was destroyed, thus restricting the ability of researchers to determine if Williams attempted to undertake or resume the pottery and brickmaking business after he acquired the property. Tax rolls during the period do not refer to any mechanical equipment on the property, and in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses, Williams lists his occupation as “farmer.” Williams died in January of 1944, and in 1946, his heirs conveyed the land that includes the old kiln to W. D. Reddoch. Pennzoil Producing Company eventually acquired the property. Currently, TXU owns the parcel. The reasons underlying the collapse of Kimik’s pottery-making operation are not recorded or clearly understood. The difficulty of transporting needed production materials from quarry sites and competition with other more-well-established potters in the vicinity could have been the catalysts, though its lack of longevity does not adversely affect its significance to local development in the late nineteenth century. SIGNIFICANCE The Kimik kiln site is significant for a variety of reasons, both archeological and historical. Although historically there were several potteries located in this southern portion of Limestone County, the Kimik kiln is unique. It represents a small kiln operation tied to the Headsville community that provided its residents with locally available, affordable utilitarian wares and brick. Unlike the large-scale Potter’s Shop near Oletha, it did not employ a significant number of local residents. Nonetheless, the kiln contributed to Headsville’s small, independent business community. In addition, Kimik marked his wares, which was rare for potters in the nineteenth century. During the Kimik kiln’s period of operation, a few other small kilns were operating near Kosse, as well as the large Potter’s shop near Oletha, but Kimik was the only small-scale kiln near Headsville. Archeological investigation has revealed that several other kiln sites have been recorded in the area (41LT11, 41LT22, 41LT197, 41LT198), but the Kimik kiln is one of the few remaining nineteenth century small kiln sites with intact archeological deposits, and seems to be one of the only kilns with an associated domestic deposit. In addition, the Kimik kiln’s distinctive, German-influenced, architectural design is still evident in the kiln remains. These physical characteristics of the site have the potential to provide information about the daily operation of small-scale nineteenth century potteries located in this region of Texas and information about the daily life of Kimik, and possibly his workers.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 13:24:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015