Wahpeton Pottery Company (Rosemeade) Dakota Pottery Borzoi Bookend (1940-1961). The Wahpeton Pottery Company was formed in 1940 by Robert J. Hughes, a local Wahpeton, North Dakota business man and Laura Taylor, a potter trained at the University of North Dakota. Mr. Hughes was the business manager of the Company and Laura Taylor provided the creative talent. The two were married in 1943. Laura was born in Rosemeade, North Dakota and named the pottery after her birthplace. The success of the business allowed a modern production plant to be built in 1944 and Howard Lewis, a ceramics engineer formerly with Dickinson Clay Products, became a partner and production manager. Initially, Rosemeade was marketed in the Midwest, but later expanded to all of the United States and many foreign countries. Laura Hughes did the majority of the design work for the company. When Laura Taylor Hughes died of cancer in 1959 the company lost its primary designer. At the same time, competition from cheaper Japanese imports hurt the company sales. Production continued until 1961 and the sales room remained open until 1964 to sell the last of the production items.
