Manufacturer: Mayer China
User: Jones & Laughlin Steel Company (J&L Steel)
Rim Pattern: Rex
Date of plate: 1920s – 1940s
Notes: According to Daniel Krummes, author of Dining on Inland Seas, this piece likely would have been used at the Jones & Laughlin shoreside facility, on their Ohio River vessels and possibly on their Great Lakes fleet of steamships.
Established in 1853, the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation began in Pittsburgh, PA, and by 1902, the Jones and Laughlin family partnerships consolidated to form the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company. At that time, the J&L Steel Company was the nation's second largest steel producer with steel works in Pittsburgh & Aliquippa, PA; Cleveland, OH; and Hennepin, IL.
In 1906, the company started its shipping operation with two ships named after the company's founding fathers: the B.F. Jones and the James Laughlin. These ships, as well as the Willis L. King and Thomas Walters were owned by the Interstate Steamship Company, a subsidiary of the J&L Steel Company. Forty-three years later, in May 1949, the J&L Steel Company absorbed its Interstate Steamship Co. subsidiary, and later sold their steamers to the Wilson Transit Company of Cleveland in November 1952.
In 1974, the J&L Steel Company became a subsidiary of the LTV Corporation, continuing operations under its original name. The LTV Corporation then merged with the Republic Steel Corporation in 1984 and the J&L Steel Co. was renamed LTV Steel.
Sources:
Dining on Inland Seas: Nautical China from the Great Lakes Region of North America by Daniel Krummes, Nautical Works Press, 1997
Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation Photographs, 1945-1970, Summary, Harvard University OASIS
Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation (The Interstate Steamship Co.), The Scanner, Vol. 5, Toronto Marine Historical Society
White body with outer green rim of small diamond shapes, alternating with two lines and an inner rim design consisting of large urns and ornamental swags. Topmarked "J&L" above the word "Steel" in lined letters.
ID submitted by leontiev