"[2] Charles Gladding (1828–1894) was born in Buffalo, New York, served as a first lieutenant in the Union Army during the Civil War,[3] and later moved to Chicago, where he engaged in the clay sewer pipe business.

[5] Investigating, Gladding verified that it was an "unusually fine deposit of white kaolin clay" located close to a railroad line.,[2] and selected the spot as the site for a new business.

The Taylor coal and clay mines and the town were condemned by the Seattle Water Department in order to include the area inside an expanded watershed.

The company continued to use the tradename of Catalina Pottery on select dinnerware and art ware lines produced in the Glendale plant until 1942.

[12] The company introduced fine china dinnerware in 1942 and due to World War II, discontinued all art ware lines.

[14] Because of "the importation of inexpensive Japanese ceramics", Gladding McBean's tableware sales declined in the post World War II period.

Pacific Coast Building Products then purchased the Lincoln factory and restored the historic name of Gladding, McBean,[16] which remains in business today.

[5] From its base in clay sewer pipe and terra cotta, the company expanded into brick production and then branched out to dinnerware in the 1930s, with its Franciscan and Catalina lines.

[20] The California State Library now holds the company's job files from 1888 to 1966, documenting the use of its products to decorate thousands of buildings, including most major structures on the campus of Stanford University.

[21] The red roof tiles and architectural terra cotta details helped achieve the distinctive Spanish Colonial Revival style so common to coastal California.

While many of the buildings throughout the west coast have been demolished, such as the Richfield Tower in Los Angeles, beautiful examples remain, including San Diego's Spreckels Theater and the Ventura County Courthouse.