Address, Pottery, Lakenan, Mo.
By Dr. Jim Foster
“But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Isaiah 6 4:8
On the evening of January 11, 2021, I listened to the story told by my father of the vacation trip taken by Keith and Betty Finney a few years back in time. They traveled from their home in Shelbina, Missouri out east and on their journey, Betty wanted to stop in an antique store in a town located in The State of Connecticut. As they browsed, Keith came upon an old crock as a lady store employee approached them with the idea of offering them some help in hopes that she could make a sale. In clever friendly conversation she asked the Finneys where they were from and Keith grabbed up the white colored crock and pointed to blue letters that made up the maker’s mark: J.L. Cluskey Lakenan, Mo. Keith pointed at the town name Lakenan and said, “right here, that is where I’m from!” The sales lady shrieked and said, “Oh, my!
Lakenan was and still is located about 5 miles east of Shelbina. It, like the Shelby County towns of Hunnewell, Shelbina and Clarence, were established along the Hannibal-St. Joseph railroad in the year 1857. About a ½ mile south of Lakenan and its railroad depot was the Lakenan Pottery that many in this area have known as The John L. Cluskey Pottery based on the high- quality products that were created from a vast deposit of high- grade clay located on the east side of the road on the Cluskey farm. There is a long history kept in the Shelby County newspapers of the thousands of pottery items that left by train car to all parts of Missouri and to various parts of the country that today have become high dollar collectibles for those who find them at antique stores and at auctions.
John and his brother Ed had become established in the pottery business by their father Fred who was a skilled potterer himself. Their craftsmanship led to their success and continued to put Lakenan on the forefront of quality products with John and Ed also being the source of local entertainment as they were also expert story tellers. In the Shelby County, Missouri Historical Society Museum records, located in Shelbina, there is the written account of B.I. Day who shared the details of The Cluskey brothers and a way in which they utilized technology to increase the speed of the pottery manufacturing by placing a blind horse on a treadmill attached to a mixer. “The old blind horse had a tendency to wander off to the dismay of Ed who one day went to one of the Lakenan stores and purchased a pistol.” B.I. Day.
Fred Cluskey brought his family to Lakenan from neighboring Monroe County and began a job in The David F. Huggins Pottery that had been established south of Lakenan after The Civil War in 1868. David had moved his wife and children to Lakenan from White Hall, Illinois where he had been established in the pottery business. It is believed that he learned a new glazing technique that created white stoneware which became popular in contrast to the typical dark brown ware of that time. David and his son Frank ran their highly successful business for several years and shipped thousands of items west to San Francisco, California.
In the year 1910, census records show the family of Thomas Finney living at Lakenan, Mo. Thomas was the grandfather of Keith Finney whom I previously mentioned. A few years after that, a young couple, George and Rachel Foster, with their three children Mary, Ruth and William, lived on the farm that bordered the north side of The Cluskey farm and pottery. When William D. Foster, my grandfather, was old enough to work, the Cluskeys gave him a job at the pottery. We have in our family a collection of Cluskey crocks from Lakenan that brings back warm memories on cold winter nights.
The Cluskey Pottery went out of business in 1940 as John’s health failed. In that same year, Jack Blanton, owner and editor of The Monroe County Appeal newspaper, located in Monroe County in the town of Paris, paid a visit to the pottery. Jack educated his readers about the different types of products produced at the pottery that included crocks, jars, jugs, and butter churns. The process required these clay items be fired in a kiln for 36 hours and that the Clusky kiln could hold up to 4,000 gallons of product. John Cluskey passed away on January 26th, 1950, at the age of 82 years. The Cluskeys left behind the legacy of their craftsmanship after decades of hard work. The familiar blue letters of J.L. Cluskey in white glaze are some of the first letters that I learned as a child as I was helping my Grandmother Foster make green tomato relish in her Cluskey crock. I still remember the pungent odor of the home grown horse radish that was ground up and added to the relish in her big crock. Yum!
