Exhibit Room B: Greensboro Pottery The stoneware pottery industry emerged in Greensboro-New Geneva due to the presence of clay seams containing the specific clay needed for this type of ceramic. The area clay beds were the first to be discovered west of New Jersey. Proximity to the Monongahela River allowed the industry to expand past local sales to a wider distribution of stoneware to markets along the Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers.While the majority of the stoneware industry was centered at Greensboro and New Geneva, there were 15 stoneware pottery locations withing a roughly 30-mile radius of the clay deposits. This included locations in Springhill Township, Rices Landing, Fredericktown, West Brownsville, Washington, Uniontown, Perryopolis, East Pike Run, and Waynesburg.The Greensboro-New Geneva stoneware industry operated from roughly 1850 to 1920, with the peak occurring between 1870 and 1880. The stoneware and pottery industry began to decline around WWI with the increased use of the glass canning jar and new industrial processes that made the production of ceramic and glass storage far faster and cheaper than handmade pots, jugs, and crocks. The increasing availability of refrigerated storage in households also made the use of stoneware obsolete. The southwestern Pennsylvania pottery and stoneware industry was largely gone by 1920 and as a result the towns of Greensboro and New Geneva faced economic decline.