In April 1910, Nelson McCoy established the Nelson McCoy Sanitary and Stoneware Company in Roseville, Ohio. The pottery produced utilitarian stoneware and operated successfully until about 1918. At that time the pottery joined with eleven other stoneware potteries and formed the American Clay Products Company (ACPC), which was located in Zanesville, Ohio. The ACPC thrived until January 1926, at which time the company was liquidated. The demise of the company released the former member potteries to once again become independent and they became in direct competition with one another. In order to re-establish its own identity, and also to reflect the changing times, the Nelson McCoy Sanitary and Stoneware Co., by 1929, had changed its name to the Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Co. Additionally, it was around this time that the company began the practice of marking its wares. No evidence has been found that the company had ever marked any of its wares prior to this time. In 1933, the pottery became simply, the Nelson McCoy Pottery Co. It was sold in 1967 to the owners of the Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., although Nelson McCoy, Jr., remained as president of the pottery. After about seven years of operation the Lancaster Colony Corporation purchased the pottery in 1974. In 1985, the pottery was sold once again, this time to Designer Accents of New Jersey. Designer Accents operated for about five years until closing in late 1990.
