Manufacturer: Maddock Pottery
User: Ye Olde Tavern – Gray, Prospect Heights/Peoria, Illinois
Pattern name: Royal #8080
Distributor: Albert Pick & Co.
Date of platter: Circa 1910 – 1920

{"arrow":"false","pagination":"true","speed":"1000","autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"2000","loop":"true","slide_to_show_3d":"2","slide_show_ipad_3d":"2","slide_show_tablet_3d":"1","slide_show_mobile_3d":"1","slide_to_scroll_3d":"1","auto_stop":"false","centermode_3d":"true","space_between_3d":"0","depth":20,"modifier":20,"img_rotate":0,"img_stretch":0}

{"animation_fancy":"zoom-in-out","transition_fancy":"fade","fancy_box_loop":"true"}

Notes: Ye Olde Tavern, also known as Doc Gray's Ye Olde Tavern and Gray's Ye Olde Tavern, was located on the northeast corner of Prospect Road and Grand View Drive in what was then known as Prospect Heights, Illinois (now Peoria).  It was opened in the late 1890s by Charles A. "Doc" Gray.

As a young man, Gray washed dishes at the Waldorf-Astoria for $15 a month and apparently saved as much as he could. As was the case with so many of the restaurants that served alcoholic beverages, Prohibition made it difficult to stay profitable, and serving illegal drinks resulted in a raid on Gray's by federal agents. On Nov. 20, 1923, fire destroyed Ye Olde Tavern – most likely by arson – and it was not rebuilt.

Maddock produced Lamberton china that is crested with "Gray," formed into a circle, in cobalt blue. "Ye Olde Tavern," in grey, curves around the circle, with "Prospect Heights" in a banner curved below.

The ornaments spaced around the rim are shown in the Maddock pattern book as #8080 with the notation that the pattern was controlled west of Pittsburgh by Albert Pick & Co. It is shown in Pick's 1915 catalogue as Lamberton's Royal pattern.

Sources:
1915 Albert Pick catalogue
Peoria Magazine, Nov. 2023 – Peoria Heights history
Peoria Heights Herald, April 13, 1962 – Charles Gray information
Bloomington Weekly Pantagraph, June 18, 1909 – Marriage of Charles Gray to Lida Curtis
Lacon Home Journal, Nov. 29, 1923

Contributor:
Larry Paul: author