Welcome to Carr China Company

A collector of restaurant china since the 1970s, my specific interest in Carr China began in earnest in Spring 2010 when I had the opportunity to visit the plant site in Grafton, W.V., on the cusp of its final clean-up of lead contamination. Built in 1913 as the Consolidated Manufactories Company, that operation went bankrupt in 1916 and the site then became the Carr China Company. The business closed in 1952.

Over the years, the Carr China Company produced a vast array of restaurant ware for hotels, resorts, diners, hospitals, fraternal organizations and the military, in addition to a smaller line of china for household use. My wife and I have created this website to help document and preserve the history and products of this company.

Recently the website has undergone some major renovations.

First, in October of 2011, we had the pleasure of meeting James Mitchell, curator of the West Virginia State Museum, in Charleston, and were able to view and document the collection of Joy Bachman, who was the wife of Wheeler Carr Bachman, the last president of Carr China and the man who shut it down in July 1952. Click here to see the collection and to see a video with Mitchell produced by the museum.

Second, we’ve opened the Tygart Trading Post, the e-commerce arm of the site. It features a wide variety of restaurant ware and other collectibles that are available for purchase. Currently there are just a few pieces of Carr China listed, but more will be coming in the near future. If you are a restaurant ware collector, I think you will find the site very interesting.

Also added during the renovation is a Links page that will take you to some of our favorite sites around the Web, including those that have been most helpful in the development of our website.

The navigation bar at the top of each page will direct you to the various sections, which we hope you will truly enjoy. If you have questions or information to share, please use the Contact page and we will respond as quickly as we can.

— Ed Phillips

All photos are the property of the site owner, carrchinacompany.com and contributors, copyright 2010-11.
No use of these photos is permitted without express written permission of the owners.