Creamware master potter Thomas Whieldon with coloured stains under the glaze. It served as an inexpensive substitute for the soft-paste porcelains being developed by contemporary English manufactories, initially in competition with Chinese export porcelains. It was often made in the same fashionable and refined styles as porcelain. The most notable producer of creamware was Josiah Wedgwood, who perfected the ware, beginning during his partnership with Thomas Whieldon. Around 1779, he was able to lighten the cream colour to a bluish white by using cobalt in the lead overglaze. Wedgwood sold this more desirable product under the name "pearl ware". Wedgwood supplied
Bonaparte Pottery Archeological District are associated with the lumberyard that took over the site after the pottery closed. They were built after the period of historical significance. While modest in size compared with Red Wing Pottery in Minnesota and Western Stoneware in Illinois, Bonaparte Pottery was mid-sized operation associated with the pottery industry in Iowa. Pottery had a significant economic impact on the state from the mid to the late 19th-century. The Des Moines River Valley had the greatest concentration of potteries in the state because of the abundant coal deposits located there. Fire clay, which is used to manufacture ceramics, was a by-product