It's a horrible day for Central New York, once again. A native manufacturing company is closing it's doors and hightailing its business to China and Mexico. This is disatrous.

(By the way, I own those same small plates that you see in that photo).

It strikes a nerve, because it's the Syracuse China factory closing (news story here). I grew up with Syracuse China. So did my mother, my grandmother, and my great-grandmother. Syracuse China was founded in 1871 in a suburb of Syracuse, NY. Syracuse China was invented by James Pass, who created a new kind of earthenware. Every New York housewife was proud to have Syracuse China in her cupboards. My mother used to prowl garage sales for deals on the dishes. The Hotel Utica had its dinnerware specially made for its 1912 Lamplighter Restaurant (people used to try to sneak out of the door with the plates).

I don't know when the company was sold. It's parent company is now Libbey, Inc., in Toldeo, Ohio. They are closing the factory here, and sending their business to China, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Louisiana in the U.S.

How odd that Syracuse China won't belong to Syracuse anymore. :(