I have had this Red Wing crock around the farm for most of my life. I remember when my parents got it. It was in October of 1968. Our neighbors, Lester & Lillian Derby, had a farm auction since they were retiring from farming and moving into town. I got to skip school and go with my dad to the auction. It was a magical time for an eleven year-old boy, as I always enjoyed farm auctions. Most of the farmers from the neighborhood were there and the mood was quite upbeat and kind of festive. And the Concord Church of Christ ladies had a lunch kitchen set up in the old tin shed across from the barn, serving sloppy joes, kool-aid and chocolate frosted brownie bars.
My parents bought quite a number of things at the auction that day, and this 15 gallon Red Wing crock was just one of them. But it has stuck in my mind and for some reason has remained on the farm for the last fifty-six years. I was always aware of the town of Red Wing, just 45 minutes to the north-east of the farm because of the Red Wing Pottery and the Red Wing work boots we wore. The town as named after a great Dakotah Nation chief who had befriended the first settlers who moved there. The native Indians hunted the bluffs and fished along the shores of what is now Lake Pepin, long before the first French Voyageurs set foot there in 1680.
In 1861, John Paul, a German immigrant moved to Red Wing and discovered a rich pocket of clay on the land that he intended to farm. A potter by trade, he used this clay to make the first Red Wing stoneware. In the early days settlers needed stoneware crocks and jugs for safe food and beverage storage. Large crocks up to fifty gallons were used for storing vegetables and pickling foods. They had wire handles on the sides and a wooden lid with a bail to secure the top.
Every home and business had a water crock for drinking water and crocks of all sizes were used to store lard, butter, eggs, salted meats, eggs and vegetables. Stores and manufacturing businesses used the crocks to hold liquids and chemicals needed for their daily operations. The largest crock known was an eighty-gallon size.
The early stoneware was colored because they were fired by wood and coal and the soot and ash would discolor the pottery. By 1895 the kilns were converted to oil heat so it was possible to produce white glazed stoneware.
As towns and cities grew and installed sewer systems the demand increased to include manufacturing ceramic drain pipes. The production in Red Wing grew at a rapid rate. By 1906 there were at least four companies producing stoneware and sewer pipes in Red Wing. Over time competition from established eastern kilns and the invention of the refrigerator caused the decline of the Red Wing stoneware. By 1936 there was only one company left producing stoneware in Red Wing and it took the name of Red Wing Potteries. The product line was reduced to flower pots and vases and lunch and dinner ware.
So, the Red Wing crock doesn’t hold anything but memories any longer, but when I see it, I am reminded of a wealth of old friends, family and people from days long gone by.
