Ceramic Art Studio Of Madison WI351
Once located at this site on North Blount Street, the Ceramic Arts Studio of Madison operated from 1940 until its closing in 1956. Founded by Lawrence Rabbitt and Reuben Sand, the company was one of the largest manufacturers of figurines in the world and distributed up to 500,000 pieces annually. The vases, figurines, and salt-and-pepper sets, designed chiefly by Betty Harrington, were known nationally for their great originality and consistently high standards of manufacture.

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Antelope Creek Ruins TX195

Plains Village Native Americans occupied a series of interconnected rock dwellings near here from about 1200-1500. Called "Texas first apartment house," the ruins have been the focus of numerous excavations through the years. Made of native dolomite, the rock and slab dwellings averaged about 12 feet by 15 feet in size with a single opening, a long crawlway, on the east side. Other rooms contained a central hearth under four roof-support posts, while smaller rooms were thought to be for storage. Adobe platforms may have been an altar for ceremonial purposes.

The ruins are located near a branch of the Canadian River, providing a perennial source of water. The creek bottom soil of sandy loam allowed residents to harvest crops including corn, beans, squash and pumpkin. The semi-sedentary natives also hunted bison, antelope, deer, and small animals as evidenced by the bones and tools found at the site. Artifacts recovered include small arrow points, beveled and oval knives, bone implements, grinding stones, and cord marked ceramics.

Considerable information on the artifact assemblage and village structure was gained from the Works Progress Administration excavations from 1938-41 and subsequent interpretive works in 1946.

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Arnold E. A. Roitsch Archeological Site TX10889

In this vicinity archeologists have located a large village and ceremonial center occupied between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1700 by ancestors of the Caddo Indians. Sedentary farmers, the Caddos built villages and farms on alluvial terraces of the Red River. Evidence from the site has revealed a number of scattered farmsteads and two earthen mounds which served as religious or ceremonial centers. The site also has yielded Caddo ceramics, plus glass beads, and metal weapons and tools, indicating the tribes in this area traded with European explorers.

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Harris County Boys' School Archeological Site TX10678

In this vicinity lies a prehistoric Indian campsite and burial ground that takes its name from the property on which it resided at the time of its discovery. It is classified as a shell midden site because of the presence of a midden, or refuse pile, of oyster and rangia clam shell. The midden collected as the result of early inhabitants consuming shellfish and leaving the empty shell where they are, which was usually at or near their campsite.

Archeological excavations revealed a variety of artifacts, including a Plainview dart point, which is associated with very early Indians. Its discovery supported radiocarbon testing that had dated part of the midden to 1476 B.C. Evidence of 32 burials was uncovered in another section of the site. Ceramics interred with the burials dated the cemetery from the first millenium A.D.

Scientific investigation of the Harris County Boys' School Archeological Site led to other studies of the cultural aspects of the prehistoric inhabitants of the area. The site remains as a significant example of the shell midden, once relatively common along the Texas Coast, but now rarely found due to beach erosion and subsidence.

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Old Potter's Shop TX3784

The fine, white clay mined near here was used at this shop from the 1840s to 1912 to make pitchers, jars, crocks, churns, flower pots, and ornamental urns, which were used locally and shopped out of county.

In the 1870s the shop, built by Alberry Johnson, was a major industry in Pottersville (later Oletha) Wm. C. Knox later bought the plant and hired J.L. Stone as the chief artisan. John Fowler then became owner and was joined by is son E.J. Fowler about 1900.

Men dug Kaolin clay from pits and hauled it to the plant, where mules provided labor to grind the clay to powder and it was fashioned into ceramics.

Historically, Kaolin -- still mined today from the deposits nearby -- has been used to make fine porcelain and china. It ranks with gas, oil, and stone as a major commercial resource in Limestone County.

During the 19th century, vast natural resources throughout the state were creating new enterprises. Cattle and cotton headed the list of products, which also included lumber, iron ore, stone, and salt, as well as finished articles such as cloth, iron kettles, soap, flour, brick, and matches.

These businesses, although crude and not of the "luxury" type, initiated the industrial growth of Texas.

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Il Cimitero Dell’Unione Italiana FL202

L’Unione Italiana, founded in 1894 in Ybor City, institutionalized the Italian funeral in Tampa when in 1896 it purchased this property from the prominent African-American Armwood family and dedicated it as a cemetery. The first Italians were buried here in 1893. Also buried here is Blanche Armwood (1890-1939), a nationally known educator. The Italian cemetery includes a parcel belonging to the Societa de Mutuo Soccorso (Mutual Aid Society). Ceramic photographs on grave markers and tombstones inscribed in Sicilian and Italian pay homage to Sicily, where the stonecutters perfected their craft in granite and marble. A cherished set of rituals governed the Italian funeral. Hundreds of people walked in a cortege, often pausing for a final tribute in front of the deceased’s house and the Italian Club where flags of Italy and the United States stood at half mast. A brass band led them to the cemetery followed by family and paesani (countrymen). This ritual celebrated the decedent’s service to the community. In the early years, each club member contributed one dollar to the bereaved family. Later, the club established a $300 survivor benefit.

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