Early in 1940, three businessmen from nearby Peoria agreed to purchase the pottery with the stipulation that the Rapp brothers remain in their respective positions in order to prevent any interruption in the output of the pottery. Based on verbal agreements from he Rapps to stay on, corporation papers were filed with the Secretary of State at Springfield, Illinois, on February 23, 1940. With the official filing of those papers, Cliftwood Art Potteries, Inc., was renamed Midwest Potteries, Inc. The Rapp brothers were now free to pursue their expertise in pottery creation and forget the worry of business management.
The new owners issued two thousand shares of common stock at $5.00 a share. None of the owners were knowledgeable about the pottery business, so they concenrated on the sale of stock and relied upon the Rapps to continue as the heartbeat of the pottery. Few changes were made in the operational procedures. The Cliftwood line of wares was continued, but the figurine production began to expand. A new line of figurines was designed exclusively for Midwest, reflective of the Art Deco movement that had begun with the advent of the Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratis et Industriels Modernes in 1925. Though the Art Deco movement was slowing down in 1940, Lawrence continued to create new designs in the deco style.
Under the new ownership, the Rapps were able to expand their gold decoration department. Experimental work on applying liquid gold to glazed pottery items was begun in a small room at the front of the pottery when it was still the Cliftwood Art Potteries. Theodore Rapp's wife, Florence, was the first gold decorator at Midwest, and was probably responsible for getting the new owners interested in that novel style of decoration. The gold operation flourished and became a major department at Midwest.
The new owners were really not interested in the decorative arts. They wanted low cost items that could be mass produced and return huge profits. Their philosophy of mass production and volume sales forced the pottery to turn out planters, vases and mediocre figurines. Within a year the directors had become disillusioned with their new venture. They were not satisfied with the sale of stock, nor with the profits they were realizing from their investment. They decided to sell the pottery.
Fortunately, a new buyer was quickly located. A second set of corporation papers was filed on July 29, 1941. Those papers transferred ownership to Sherman Deutch, an entrepreneur from Canton, Illinois. The Rapp were retained in their positions so that work at the pottery could continue smoothly. At last there seemed to be a continuity that would allow the pottery to swing back and become the powerful entity it had been under Matthew Rapp's guidance.
By 1943, Midwest Potteries, Inc. was back on a full production schedule. The future looked bright, but that new burst of activity was short lived. Sherman Deutch enlisted in the United States Army. The Rapps were forced to endure one more transition. To ensure the pottery's continued output during his enlistment, Deutch hired Richard G. Dunn to manage the pottery. Dunn encouraged the continuation and expansion of the gold decorating department, giving the pottery the financial boost that it needed. A small building across the railroad tracks in front of the pottery was leased and enlarged. After the remodeling, the entire gold decorating department was moved there. That frame building, known locally as the shack, became the most prolific of all Midwest's operations. Orders came to the pottery with such frequency that it was impossible to keep production ahead of the orders. New designs were continually being introduced and salesmen were dispatched to all parts of the United States, Mexico and Canada.
R.G. Dunn was not a potter, but he was a high-powered, overly zealous businessman. His temperament was quite different than any the Rapp brothers had ever experienced. Dunn's business philosophy was a sharp contrast to their father Matthew's. The Rapps were soon disillusioned, as were the seventy-five employees at the pottery. All of the workers were forced into a bonus plan after intensive time studies at each level of production showed what effort was expected in order for them to earn a few extra pennies. The disgruntled workers complained to the Rapps. Some of them quit their jobs and others threatened to unionize. Unable to endure those working conditions that were being inflamed, the four Rapp brothers severed their relationships with the Midwest Pottery early in 1943. For the first time in their lives, Morton's clay pits and their family business held no interest for them. Carl, John and Lawrence left Morton to continue their skills elsewhere. Theodore stayed in the area and made an effort to sell insurance.
The Midwest Pottery was never able to regain the recognition that had come from Matthew Rapp's artistic and business astuteness. Faced with inadequate supervision in the various departments, and misdirected leadership at the top, the pottery was beset by labor problems and unrest. The future started to look bleak. All of those problems came to an end the evening of March 19, 1944. Midwest Pottery was destroyed by a devastating fire that raged for six hours. That fire brought an end to sixty-seven years of pottery production on the site where Morton's first pottery began in 1877.
The loss from the fire was set at $65,000. The building was valued at $40,000 and the contents at $25,000. The alarm was called in by a woman who lived across the tracks from the pottery. Ironically, Richard Dunn and several other employees were working in anopther part of the plant at the time the fire was detected. None of them knew of the fire until the alarm was sounded. The building was completely destroyed. Only the ivy-covered front wall remained after the fire. It stood as a grim reminder of the fire until the spring of 1946 when the fire chief recommended that it be torn down to prevent any accidents.
Dunn immediately applied to the War Production Board for permission to rebuild the pottery. The loss was covered by insurance and local speculation suggested that the pottery would quickly be rebuilt. It never was. Instead, a small pottery in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was purchased and the operations of Midwest Potteries, Inc. were transferred to that plant. R.G. Dunn went there to manage the plant for Sherman Deutch who was still in the army and stationed in Hawaii. John Rapp eventually went to South Milwaukee where he produced the spray glazes that he had perfected in Morton.
Little is known about the South Milwaukee operation, but according to Lois Lehner's research1 that plant produced a Cliftwood line and a Kron line of art pottery. Examples of the Kron line exist today. So far, none from the Cliftwood line have been found. Lehner found no listings for the Midwest Potteries, Inc. in the Milwaukee city directories after 1953.
1Lehner's Encyclopedia of U.S. Marks on Pottery, Porcelain & Clay