CoorsTek, Inc. is a privately owned manufacturer of technical ceramics for aerospace, automotive, chemical, electronics, medical, metallurgical, oil and gas, semiconductor and many other industries. CoorsTek headquarters and primary factories are located in Golden, Colorado, US. The company is wholly owned by Keystone Holdings LLC, a trust of the Coors family. John K. Coors,"Profiles of Leadership," Ceramic Industry, December 1, 2005. a great-grandson of founder and brewing magnate Adolph Coors Sr., and the fifth and youngest son of longtime chairman and president Joseph Coors, retired as president and chairman in January 2020 after 22 years.
History
Adolph Coors and John Herold Prussian-born Adolph Coors (1847–1929) opened the Colorado Glass Works in 1887 with fellow German immigrant Joachim Binder and James R. Ward to manufacture beer bottles for his brewery, the Adolph Coors Brewing Company, west of Denver. In 1888, the glass works, incorporated as Coors, Binder & Co., was idled by a strike and never reopened.R.H. Schneider, Coors Rosebud Pottery, First Edition, Busche-Waugh-Henry Publications, 1984, , p 10-19.R. Banham, Coors: A Rocky Mountain Legend, Greenwich Publishing Group Inc., 1998, , p 16, 34-37, 39, 44-46, 58-60, 69-74, 79-80, 96-100, 102-103, 107, 110, 112 & 121-123. The remaining building of the Glass Works by 1910, its warehouse, was leased to Austrian-born John J. Herold (1871–1923) and incorporated as the Herold China and Pottery Company situated upon the site at 600 Ninth Street in Golden.Chemical Porcelain Ware by Coors: The Evolution of a Lump of Clay, Coors Porcelain Co., 1935, p 2-3. Herold used clay from nearby mines to make tableware and heat-resistant ovenware under the trademark Herold Fireproof China, with major financial support from Coors."Coors Porcelain Company," Golden History Museum & Park Online Collection, cited 4 Apr 2019.
The now-abandoned clay pits form the western boundary of the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) campus. CSM professor Herman Fleck helped Herold perfect his glazing technique.L. Marshall, "Golden Synergy," Mines (CSM Alumni magazine), Vol. 104, #3, Fall 2014, p 14-19. Adolph Coors became the majority stockholder and was elected to the board of directors of Herold China in 1912.
John Herold resigned in 1912 due to tuberculosis and other health concerns, and Adolph Coors Company acquired Herold China in 1914. Herold returned later in 1914 to manage the plant, but left permanently in 1915 for the Guernsey Earthenware Co. in Cambridge, Ohio. Adolph Coors II (1884–1970) was the first vice-president (VP) and general manager (GM). CSM evaluated Fireproof China for industrial applications in 1914, and found it suitable.
The company began producing chemical porcelain in 1915 as a result of a World War I embargo on German imports. Adolph Coors' third son, Herman F. Coors (1890–1967), was named manager in 1916, during which year the plant's iconic brick face upon Ford Street was built. Employment increased from 37 employees in 1915 to 75 in 1917. The plant became the largest employer of women in Golden, with Herman Coors advertising specifically for female employees in the Golden Transcript. Herold China was renamed Coors Porcelain Company in 1920, and the trademark "Coors U.S.A." was first used."Coors Ceramics, A Diverse Operation in the '90s," Ceramic Industry, Oct 1994, p 47-51. The Rocky Mountain Bottle Company, maker of Coors beer bottles in nearby Wheat Ridge and a joint venture with Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc., came long after Coors, Binder & Co., and has never been affiliated with Coors Porcelain.S. White, "A quick look at our 8 breweries (yes, 8!) (5.) Golden, Colorado," MillerCoors LLC, 8 Jul 2015.
Rosebud porcelain and Prohibition after WW1 After World War I, Coors Porcelain made tableware and cookware bearing the trademarks Rosebud, Glencoe Thermo-Porcelain, Coorado, Mello-Tone and others. During Prohibition, the ceramic business was largely what kept the parent company afloat.
The original factory site at 600 Ninth Street in Golden was the only Coors Porcelain facility until the 1970s, and remained the company headquarters until a new facility was built northeast of Golden in the early 1990s. The Ninth St. plant consists of several adjoining buildings that occupy four square blocks, and was CoorsTek's largest manufacturing site until it closed in 2021.
Herman Frederick Coors managed the company in the early days. Herman's older brother, Grover Cleveland Coors (1888–1954), began the fledgling company's foray into ceramic technology by inventing a tool for forming spark plug insulation in 1919.G.C. Coors, "Apparatus for Forming Spark-Plug Insulators," US Patent No. 1 362 926, Dec 1920. Chemist Harold W. Ryland (1881–1966) was hired in 1923, and worked his way up to GM and VP of Porcelain and mayor of Golden 1939–45 before his 1957 retirement."Necrology: Harold W. Ryland," Ceramic Bulletin, V45, #11, Nov 1966, p 1050. Germany became competitive once again in 1926, and put downward pressure on Coors' chemical porcelain business. Adolph I's death in 1929 put Adolph II solely in charge of the idled A. Coors Co. brewery and Porcelain both, until his sons Adolph III, Bill and Joe joined in the 1940s.
Herman Coors offered to buy Porcelain in the early 1920s after frequent management disagreements with his father and older brother, but was refused. Herman left in 1922"Activities of the Society," Ceramic Bulletin, V1, #10, Oct 1922, p 257. to develop clays mined by the Alberhill Coal and Clay Company for use in china that could compete with imports. He started the H.F. Coors China Company, a manufacturer of dishes for restaurants and institutional use, in Inglewood, California, in 1925. Grover also had friction with Adolph Jr., left for California in 1924, and eventually became a representative for the brewery there.
The H.F. Coors pottery's trademarks include Coorsite, Alox flatware and Chefsware. Herman retired from Coors China in 1946, and was succeeded by his son Robert M. Coors (1920–2004). Robert's brother Dallas Morse Coors (1917–1996) was the VP. Robert retired in 1978, and sold the 125-employee company to Standex International Corporation.Anon., "The History of H.F. Coors China Company", cited 26 Sep 2016., "Standex International Corporation Company History," 2012.
Standex was preparing to close Coors China and sell its property for redevelopment circa 2003. Mug-maker Catalina China Inc. of Tucson, Arizona, acquired the assets of Coors China from Standex, and moved the company to Tucson in 2003. The assets included a 200-ft-long gas-fired tunnel kiln.L.A. DarConte, "HF Coors: Made in Tucson," DesertLeaf, Vol. 27, No. 11, December 2013, pp. 54-55.
Aluminum beer cans In the 1950s, Coors Porcelain's parent company investigated the possibility of replacing steel beverage cans with aluminum ones, as part of a closed-loop recycling system. The effort was the brainchild of W.K. "Bill" Coors (1916–2018), the second son of Adolph IIF.L. Church, "Man of the Year: William K. Coors," Modern Metals, January 1960, p 88–98. and the vice-president of Porcelain.
Coors formed a joint venture with Beatrice Foods (then parent of Primo Beer in Hawai'i), named Aluminum International, to develop the seamless aluminum can. Coors built a pilot plant at the southeast corner of 8th Street and Washington Avenue in 1955 for the aluminum can line.Colorado Transcript, July 14, 1955.G. Walker, "Environmental Stewardship Amid Rapid Growth at CoorsTek," Ceramic Bulletin, V85 #5, May 2008, p 26-29. After years of experiments, failures and successes, including the ill-fated late 1954 rollout by Primo of the can which proved not yet ready for market due to flaws, Coors at last unveiled the perfected seamless aluminum can to the world in January 1959.Colorado Transcript, January 15, 1959.
In 1970, Coors resumed their ambitious and aggressive program called "Cash for Cans", which operated throughout Coors' 11-state marketing area offering a penny a can. Coors success with the aluminum industry was a critical breakthrough in the development of America's recycling market and collection infrastructure.
The can operation eventually outgrew the Porcelain building (which was then absorbed into the main porcelain plant as Building 10) and moved into its present location east of the brewery in 1966.B.M. Conny, A Catalyst for Change: The Pioneering of the Aluminum Can, A. Coors Co., 1990, p 39, 51-53 & 87. The can, end and bottle factories were jointly managed by Joe Coors as Coors Container Company from 1971 to 1981. Coors Brewing Company reorganized its 340-employee can, end and tab operations into a joint venture with the Ball Corporation in 2002, known as Rocky Mountain Metal Container LLC., "Coors, Ball sign can-making deal," Denver Business Journal, 13 Nov 2001. Coors Ceramics began developing hot-pressed SiC-whisker-reinforced Al2O3 ceramic tooling for beverage can machinery in the 1990s."ACMC, Coors Sign Agreement," Ceramic Bulletin, V68 #4, Apr 1989, p 792.
On January 22, 2009, the original Coors can plant was named an ASM Historical Landmark by the Board of Trustees of ASM International, for its role in ushering in the age of recyclable aluminum beverage containers.G. Krauss, "CoorsTek Honored as Historical Landmark of ASM International," Advanced Materials & Processes, V167 #3, Mar 2009, p 49-50. The date marked the 50th anniversary of Coors' first aluminum can. The building, known though later years as Building 10, proved too incapable of adaptive reuse upon the plant's redevelopment commenced in 2024 and it was largely taken down, but its remaining glass block windows were salvaged and a remaining portion of its northeast wall kept standing with the goal of preserving it as part of the project.
Technical ceramics and company growth after WW2 The company gradually diversified its lines of technical ceramics before and especially after World War II."Mornin Named Superintendent," Ceramic Bulletin, V37, #2, Feb 1958, p 99. The factory was enlarged by 40,000 ft2 in 1960."Coors Builds Plant Addition," Ceramic Bulletin, V38, #12, Dec 1959, p 18. Coors greatly expanded its product lines, reduced scrap and accelerated production with the aid of cold isostatic pressing in the 1940s; metallizing, tape casting and hot isostatic pressing in the 1950s; and multilayer ceramic capacitors in the 1960s. A four-story high, 32-ft diameter spray dryer with 5000 lb/hr capacity was installed in 1962."Out of the Kiln," Ceramic Bulletin, V41, #2, Feb 1962, p 16a.
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory awarded Coors a 2-year contract in 1963 to produce enriched urania-beryllia fuel elements for Project Pluto's Tory II-C nuclear ramjet engine, which increased employment by 230 to a then-record 1100 total."Out of the Kiln," Ceramic Bulletin, V42, #1, Jan 1963, p 23a. High-alumina (85 to 99.9% Al2O3) ceramics replaced porcelain (mixed-oxide ceramics, e.g., mullite) in many thermomechanical, electrical and chemical applications. Coors engineers Ceramic Bulletin, V48, #4, Apr 1969, p 373. invented fully dense, glass-free 99.5+% Al2O3 ceramics in 1964, useful for many applications where porcelain is deficient."Tough Alumina Ceramic Developed by Coors," Ceramic Bulletin, V46, #7, Jul 1967, p 678., V.E. Wolkodoff & R.E. Weaver, "Alumina Ceramic," US Patent No. 3 377 176, Apr 1968.