The products manufactured at the American Art Potteries were very similar to those the Rapps had produced during the Cliftwood and Midwest years. The brothers assumed the same specialty areas they had been responsible for at the earlier potteries. Lawrence designed and made the new molds. Theodore supervised the casting and trimming department. John was responsible for glazing, decorating and kiln operation. Carl re-established himself in sales and shipping.
Few designs that had been used during the Cliftwood and Midwest years were made at the new pottery. Many fresh designs went into production. Television lamps, ceramic doll parts, new figurines and a new line of novelty planters were introduced by American Arts. None of the items produced at the pottery were marked. The foil labels were used exclusively. All wares produced at this location were marketed under the trade name"Norwood Pottery."
John Rapp's unique glazing techniques helped to identify the wares produced by American Arts Potteries. The colors were all hand painted or spray painted over a white or opaque glaze base. Though some solid colors were produced, the majority of the work done during this period of operation has a mottled appearance, or a sharply defined color separation that came from the hand application of the glaze. Another help in identifying American Art products is the pattern of glaze crazing. Older pottery has a closely woven basket type of crazing rather than the sharp, long lines of crazing that are found on American Art examples. Crazing often appeared soon after the ware was taken from the kiln. The Rapps were never able to determine what the problem really was. It is certain that they had not intended to create the well-known crackle glazes. In all probability, the glaze contracted at a greater rate than the clay body during the cooling process. That would account for the rapidity in crazing at the pottery.
When the pottery started operation at the West Jefferson Street location, there was not enough floor space for the mold making operations. Lawrence developed his designs and produced the molds for them in an old building known as the Mariceau Building. That building, located near where the Midwest Potteries had burned in 1944, was unhandy. The molds had to be carried across town in an old panel truck and were frequently damaged during the trips. To eliminate that inconvenience, an addition was built across the front of the building in 1949. That addition extended the building to the sidewalk in front.
By the time the addition was completed, the volume of business had grown so fast that the new addition, instead of housing the mold making division, had to be used as a showroom and an expanded area for the packing and shipping departments. The pottery was outgrowing its facilities. It was obvious that there was a need to further increase the floor space of the pottery, but expansion at that location was not possible. It was also obvious that more capital was necessary to meet the increased demands for American Arts Pottery. In order to provide both needs, a Peoria businessman, William F. Shanemeyer, became a partner with the brothers.
As a result of that partnership, the American Arts Potteries purchased the Custenborder Building, a machinery manufacturing business, on North Morton Avenue. That transaction took place in May 1950. It provided the pottery an additional 6,000 square feet of floor space just two blocks from the main pottery building. The design and mold department was moved from the Mariceau Building to the new facility. Following that move, a new warehouse was built on the north side of the building, adding another 3,000 square feet of space. That addition made it possible to install a new pusher type automatic tunnel kiln. The kiln was operated with natural gas fuel and had an automatic temperature indicator. It ran continually twenty four hours a day. Depending on the speed of the automatic pusher, ware could be fired in ten to thirty hours.
The additional area allowed American Art Potteries to reassign production areas. The original building on West Jefferson Street was used to house the business office, a sales and display room, and the shipping department. Three small kilns were left at that location to be used for gold decoration and overglazing air brushing. The casting, finishing and glazing departments were kept there also.
The newly acquired floor space was used for badly needed storage. A pug mill and blunger were installed at the new location and an underground system was built to pressure pump the slip clay from the blunger to the casting department where it was poured into molds.
The pottery kept as many as thirty employees on its payroll during the 1950's. From 1951 to 1961 to pottery operated at full production. During that time, William Shanemeyer assumed the management and control of the pottery so the Rapps could concentrate on the expansion and production and not be restricted by the many problems of management. Production continued and increased. The Rapps were once again recouping the reputation they had established in the world of ceramic artisanship.
That recaptured glory did not last. Shanemeyer was not persistent in paying the Internal Revenue Service taxes for the business. Sometimes the payments were late; eventually he faltered completely. Shanemeyer's problem escalated on April 26, 1961, when the pottery was seized for nonpayment of federal taxes. The business was closed and the doors at both locations were padlocked. Signs place on the doors read: "WARNING! This property seized for nonpayment of internal revenue taxes by virtue of a levy issued by the District Director of Internal Revenue." The warning was signed by Stanley Decker, the IRS officer in charge of the seizure.
Within a month, Shanemeyer paid the federal liens against the pottery that totaled $11,529 for unpaid social security and unemployment taxes. The pottery was allowed to resume operations early in June 1961. Despite that first encounter with the IRS, others would come during the next year and a half. On March 15, 1962, the local newspapers released information that the pottery was to be sold by the federal government. Sealed bids were opened at the pottery business office at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 16th. Figures released at that time showed that the pottery owed a bit more than $5,000 for withholding tax, social security and unemployment compensation contributions. Again, it was stipulated that Shanemeyer could redeem the property by paying the back taxes up to the time that the sealed bids were opened. At 9:45 a.m., just fifteen minutes before the bids were to be opened, Shanemeyer paid tax claims of $5.312 and the sale was cancelled. The pottery was back in business but it was on very shaky ground. By November 1963 Shanemeyer was having his third go-about with the IRS. The pottery was again seized and was placed at auction in order to retrieve the money owed to the federal government.
The auction was held at the Jefferson Street facility on November 8, 1963, at 9:30 a.m. The equipment destined for the auction block was valued at $70,000. The list of items to be sold included office equipment, trucks, processing machinery and kilns. The buildings were not included in the auction but thousands of pieces of pottery were.
All of the processing machinery, some molds, and one of the kilns was purchased by the Morton Pottery Company. Though the two potteries had no business relationships, there was a family bond. Both potteries traced their origins back to the six Rapp brothers who originally established the pottery industry in Morton. The American Arts Potteries was started by Matthew's sons. The sons of Andrew established the Morton Pottery Company.
Both finished and unfinished pottery sold briskly at the auction. For the most part, finished items were purchased by florists, nursery and garden people, and gift shop owners from as far away as Chicago. Unfinished items went to Cub Scout den mothers and amateur and studio potters. Two Catholic nuns from the Sisters of Alverno Novitate, 3rd Order of St. Francis, bought some of the molds and green ware to be used in ceramic classes at the Novitate which is located northeast of Peoria.
The buildings eventually sold devoid of IRS intervention. The Jefferson Street building became a plumbing business for a number of years and now has been remodeled into apartments. The Morton Avenue building was purchased by Libby McNeil and Libby and is used as a machine shop. It is directly across the street from the canning factory that is now a subsidiary of Nestles.
The four Rapp brothers - Carl, John, Lawrence and Theodore - have all passed on. Though they all had children, none of the third generation has made pottery production their vocation. However, they take pride in the art pottery their fathers and grandfathers created.