The Heritage Museum
In 1869, James, Hiram, and Wallace Wilson opened the H. Wilson & Co. pottery shop and operated it until 1884. The three former enslaved workers had split off from the business once owned by their former master, John M. Wilson. By their success, both in building a business and as craftsmen creating unique pottery, the freedmen demonstrated that African Americans could be prosperous entrepreneurs at a time when Southern Anglos actively sought to keep former slaves tied to the land as sharecroppers. Although the location of Wilson Potteries has now become an archeological site that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and received an official Texas Historical Subject Marker, the story continues to be told today at The Heritage Museum through a pottery artifact display.