Knowledge Bank

The history of three clay tobacco pipe factories at Point Pleasant, Clermont Co., Ohio, is briefly reviewed. Turn-of-the century photographs of two of the structures are analyzed, and evidence suggests that one, a large frame building identified as Jesse Grant's Tannery and "The Oldest Clay Pipe Factory in U.S.," was the Bainum & Peterson factory, also known as the Clermont Pottery and active ca. 1900-1913. It is currently the site of the Grant Memorial Church on Back St. The other building is believed to have been the earlier Kirkpatrick-Davis-Peterson Brothers pottery southeast of the bridge over Indian Creek. Distinctive pipe styles at the Bainum/Peterson Site (33CT-390), the Kirkpatrick-Davis-Peterson Brothers site (33CT-256), and the Tom Peterson Pottery, which stood at the northwest corner of the Route 52 bridge, are illustrated.