In 1875, a newspaper article inspired a pipe dream for Charles Gladding —  a clay pipe dream, to be exact. 

Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1828, Gladding was a former Union Army first lieutenant in the American Civil War. He had moved to Chicago to work for a manufacturer of clay sewer pipes. It was when he later relocated to California looking for new business opportunities that he read a newspaper article that would change his life and fortune, as well as those of two friends, Peter McGill McBean and George Chambers. 

That article focused on a promising clay deposit adjacent to the young village of Lincoln which, first established in 1859, would incorporate as a city just 31 years later. The trio liked the possibilities and quickly established a signature company, Gladding, McBean, destined to become the leading producer of clay-pipe, terra cotta and tile products. 

Today, the company’s inventory includes both modern-day and
traditional materials with which it creates roof tiles, pottery, chimney caps and tops, as well as floor tiles. Gladding, McBean also sells bulk clay.

Gladding, McBean, which is part of Pacific Coast Building Products and its family of companies has always taken pride in its corporate citizenship. Its connection to the people of Lincoln has been not only synergistic but also personal. In fact, when a union strike against the company was threatened 108 years ago, Lincoln merchants intervened, mediating and helping settle the dispute. 

A few years later in 1925, the factory’s workers turned around and built Lincoln’s McBean Stadium, a landmark that recently began an extensive renovation to bring it up to present-day standards. Due to generous contributions from the United Auburn Indian Community and the Lincoln Potters baseball team, McBean Stadium now has new and improved batting cages, dugouts, turf and grass, irrigation, fencing and seating.

The city of Lincoln has grown as gracefully as its most cherished corporate citizen. Between 2000 and 2010, it became known as the country’s fastest-growing city of over 10,000 people (it now has nearly 55,000 residents). 

Today, at its century-and-a-half mark, Gladding, McBean — with a reputation for integrity in design, forward-looking technology and traditional community values — has turned a long-ago pipe dream into a lifelong reality.