Manufacturer: Iroquois
User: Meadowbrook Dude Ranch
Subsequent user/same pattern: Galloping Gale Dude Ranch
Date of plate and bowl: 1940

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Notes: Meadowbrook Dude Ranch was a 100-acre horse ranch located in North Creek, N.Y., north of Schenectady, in the 1940s (date based solely upon the 1940 backstamp of the china). The main lodge was built in the 1860s.

A mention in the Warren County, N.Y. government records refers as of 1944 to Meadowbrook Dude Ranch & Ski Club, Inc., so perhaps the casual resort was open year-round with opportunities for skiing, too.

At some unknown date, Paul and Ruth Thomas became the owners/managers and changed the name to Galloping Gale Dude Ranch: "Ride the Trail to Galloping Gale." Their daughter remembers the dining room with "wagon wheel chandeliers and these wonderful dishes on oil cloth red and white checked tablecloths."

After the Thomases sold it in the Sixties, it was purchased and opened as Snow Pony but eventually burned and was not rebuilt.

Throughout its ownership, Galloping Gale continued to use the Meadowbrook topmarked china, which included the image of the horse's head with harness in brown on the tan-bodied ware of the plate (with brown line on verge), and the name Meadowbrook Dude Ranch in all caps on the rimmed bowl. An additional fruit bowl was part of the set without topmark.

Sources:
Information/Galloping Gale ephemera provided by Laurie Rice, daughter of the Thomases
Warren County, N.Y. website

Contributor:
Photos: Susan Phillips