Manufacturer: Shenango China
User: Thayer Hotel – West Point, New York
Date of examples: circa 1943 – 1950s

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Notes: The six-story, 225-room Thayer Hotel opened May 27, 1926, in West Point, New York. It is located at 674 Thayer Road on the US Military Academy, better known as West Point. It was built as a replacement for the original 1829 West Point Hotel, and was named for Sylvanus Thayer, class of 1808. Thayer is known as the "Father of West Point" because he transformed the new military academy from a marginal school into a school whose supremacy in science and engineering was unchallenged. In 1943, the West Point Hotel Corporation sold the Thayer to The United States Government. In 2022, the Thayer had 151 guest rooms and was the only full-service hotel on any military base in the entire world.

Shenango produced china that is crested with the West Point shield flanked by "U.S. HOTEL" on the left, and  "THAYER" on the right. Depending on the piece the crest is placed above, or below, red, gray, and blue lines.  Back stamps on known pieces range from the colored decal used in the 1930s – 1940s to the green rubber stamp with a 1951 date code.

Sources:
Americanheritage.com – Sylvanus Thayer information
Businesswire.com – May 26, 2016, article about hotel history and current use

For additional info:
Thayer Hotel by Scammell China
Thayer Hotel 2 by Scammell China

Contributor:
Author and photos: Larry Paul