Roseville, Ohio

Roseville is a small community located approximately ten miles south of Zanesville. The town was founded in 1840, but it remained small throughout the nineteenth century. Roseville’s population in 1880 was only 531 people. Despite its small size, the community boasted a newspaper, five churches, three flour mills, and several stoneware manufacturers at that time.

In the early twentieth century, Roseville became known for its pottery. The area surrounding Roseville provided a number of companies with the clay necessary to manufacture a wide variety of decorative and functional stoneware. Roseville Pottery was one of the well-known pottery manufacturers in the region. This company was originally founded in Roseville in 1892, but it moved its headquarters to Zanesville in 1898. Roseville Pottery continued to operate a factory in Roseville until 1910, when all manufacturing operations also moved to Zanesville. The company finally ceased production when it was sold in 1954.

Another famous pottery manufacturer was the Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Company, founded in Roseville in 1910. Originally, this company produced useful items such as jars, jugs, and crocks, but it eventually began to expand its production into other types of products, such as vases and umbrella stands. One product for which McCoy became famous was its cookie jars. For the most part, McCoy products were marketed to the average consumer.

During the Great Depression, pottery manufacturers in the area struggled to survive. Although companies such as Roseville Pottery and the Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Company emerged from the depression and World War II, they found it increasingly difficult to compete against imported pottery.

Today, the community of Roseville has several buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has an active historical society that works to commemorate the town’s history.