Hancock County, Kentucky Stories
Murray Tile was first major
industry to locate in Hancock
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Retyped as it appeared in the Clarion, by
Mary E Gibbs, for non-profit use
Forty-six years after the birth of Hancock
County there was born at Cloverport in adjoining Breckinridge
County, The Murray Tile Company. This firm was to later become
Hancock County’s first major industry.
Murray was organized as a brickyard in
1875. In 1904 they merged with two other brickyards then
operating to form the Murray Roofing Tile Company. They operated
as such from 1904 to 1926 at which time is was incorporated under
the name Murray Tile Company, Incorporation.
From 1904 until 1940 both roofing tile
and quarry tile were manufactured. In 1940 the manufacturing of
roofing tile was discontinued and the company’s entire
facilities were devoted to the manufacture of quarry tile. The
first continuous tunnel kiln was built in 1940.
In 1947 Mr. E.M. Adams became president
of Murray Tile, and under his management Murray began a
modernization and expansion program which continues today. A
second tunnel kiln was put into service at the Cloverport plant
in 1951. In July, 1955, Murray started at Lewisport with Kiln no.
3. This kiln and kiln no. 4 lighted in 1960 with their large fuel
consumption made it feasible for the city of Lewisport to build
and own their Municipal Gas System. The residents of Lewisport
will forever be grateful for this, and the large payroll added to
the economy of their community.
In June 1959, under Mr. Adam’s
direction, the Murray Tile Company along with American Encaustic
Tiling Company of Lansdale, Pennsylvania and Olean Tile Company.
New York merged with the National Gypsum Company, one of the
Company’s largest manufacturers of building materials, to
form a Ceramic Tile Division of National Gypsum Company. This
division became known as American Olean Tile Company Incorporated.
March, 1960, saw the completion at
Lewisport of one of the most modern office buildings in the state
(a showcase for ceramic and quarry tile). The office operations
for the company wide management of American Olean quarry tile
production and sales were then started here in Hancock County.
In 1964 the American Olean Tile Company
completed at Jackson, Tennessee, a modern plant for the
manufacture of glazed wall tile, and in 1965 the most modern
quarry tile plant in the nation today was completed in
Quakertown, Pennsylvania. In 1966 the company acquired the Pomona
Tile Company of Ponoma, California, another manufacturer of
glazed wall tile.
There was a 100,000 square foot addition
to the Lewisport plant that employed more Hancock County people.
Hancock County is indeed fortunate to
have this fine progressive company which affords employment to so
many people on a year round basis.