Manufacturer: Carr China Company
User: Maclin Hall – West Virginia Institute of Technology
Date of plate: 1946

Sample Plate

Newspaper photo of Maclin Hall in the 1950s

Photo of Maclin Hall today (2016)

Google-Earth photo of Maclin Hall (2016)

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Notes: We bought this plate in a set of white plates with brown/sepia topmarks and have always thought they were samples.

Recently, we were contacted by Rhod Mills – a West Virginia state seal china collector – who said he has the same design in black on a Glo-Tan plate but with the addition of the West Virginia state seal (shown above).

We have now identified the building as Maclin Hall, which was named for Edward S. Maclin, president of what was then the New River State College in 1933 through when it had transitioned to West Virginia Institute of Technology in 1945. It is now (2016) known as WVU Tech.

From the university's website: "Edward S. Maclin Hall offers students a combination of historical style and modern amenities. Originally built in 1938 [other sources say 1939], the hall's wings were added in 1953 and the entire building was remodeled and updated in 2007."

This plate was made in 1946, the year after Maclin left office. The dormitory was built by the Public Works Administration – but it was only later that it was called Maclin Hall. It is likely, therefore, that it was renamed to honor Maclin only after he was no longer president. The grainy newspaper photo above shows the original structure.

The wings added on each side in 1953 come out from the front at a perpendicular angle. See the next photo. It's easy to see that the two sidewalks leading from the street are the same!

The screenshot from Google Earth in the last photo shows the top of the building and it's possible to see the original architecture.

Seeing Rhod's photos confirms our thoughts that our brown-on-white plate was a sample and that an order was likely placed for the design on Glo-Tan with the addition of the rust-red and black lines and state seal.

Update: WVU Tech moved its entire campus from Montgomery, West Virginia to Beckley West Virginia in 2017. From the West Virginia Challenge.org website, an article by Steve Keenan of The Montgomery Herald dated September 1, 2020: "Life is being breathed into portions of the former WVU Tech. Work is ongoing on converting Maclin Hall and the Tech Center to host Mountaineer Challenge Academy South, a program of the West Virginia National Guard, beginning this fall. MCA South is slated to receive its first class of cadets on Oct. 11, 2020. Thereafter, the academy will be on a regular schedule of two classes a year every April and October."

Contributors:
Edward Babcock: ID
Rhod Mills: Glo-Tan plate photos
Susan Phillips: White sample plate photos and research
Steve Keenan: article about the renovation of Maclin Hall