History

John Herold, founder of Herold China and Pottery Company, the predecessor of CoorsTek, was born in Austria and immigrated to the United States around 1890. After spending many years in Zanesville, Ohio perfecting his ceramic art pottery methods, he arrived in Golden in 1909. 

John Herold began producing art pottery in Golden, including the Gem of the Rockies line featured here. At the urging of Dr. Herman Fleck, head of the chemistry department at the Colorado School of Mines, Herold developed chemical laboratory ware based on fine clays from the hills near Golden. After withstanding complete testing by Dr. Fleck, the pieces he produced started a new product line for the company. 

John Herold decided to leave Golden in early 1915. Adolph Coors Jr. took over the management of the Herold China and Pottery Company. Based on the demand for domestic labware at the start of World War I, Adolph Jr. led the small pottery’s effort to meet the growing need for labware.  

The company produced over 300 shapes and sizes of chemical labware sold worldwide under the COORS USA trademark. Today the company still produces high-quality scientific and analytical labware.  

During the 1920s, Coors Porcelain became a world leader in the production of labware, becoming the supplier of choice to great inventors of the day, including Thomas Edison.  During this time period the company produced over 10,000 pieces of labware per day in addition to other product lines. In the photo (courtesy of the NPS), Thomas Edison and his son Charles can be seen using Coors USA labware in his Glenmont Lab. 

Coors Porcelain continued to expand and grow. New circular and tunnel kilns were added, replacing the old beehive kilns. 

Coors Porcelain published 'The Evolution of a Lump of Clay', a booklet first released in 1936 telling the story of the company’s chemical porcelain ware manufacturing. 

Joseph Coors, Sr., one of Adolph Jr.'s sons, assumed leadership at the pottery in 1946 and began the process of becoming the industrial ceramic technology leader. He started the first formal R&D group at Coors Porcelain and strengthened the technical and design staff.

Coors Porcelain discontinued consumer lines such as dinnerware and cookware during World War II to concentrate on technical porcelain products. Coors Porcelain never revived the dinnerware lines, now considered collectibles with the Rosebud line being the most popular. 

The company developed the dry press forming process for faster, more economical production of small, high volume products such as those pictured here. 

Coors Porcelain started a consumer product line including vases, ashtrays, and mugs - many of which were produced for the brewery. 

In 1965, Coors Porcelain scored a major contract with IBM to produce ceramic substrates used in mainframe computers - starting at 25 million substrates the first year, and growing to 15 million substrates a week at its peak. 

After many years of development, in 1966 Coors Porcelain produced ceramic armor components deployed for military applications - a breakthrough in lightweight protection. 

Alumina insulators were used in pollution control equipment to reduce smokestack emissions - enduring high temperatures while trapping and removing dust and ash. 

Thin-film electronic substrates were produced using the tape casting process, delivering thin, flat components used for telephone switching gears and other electronic applications. 

In 1985, Joe Coors Jr. became president of Coors Porcelain and endeared employees by brainstorming and experimenting with new ideas. He drafted the first vision statement for the company, reflected in today’s CoorsTek Vision, Mission, Values.

In 1989, Coors Ceramics reentered the consumer market with tough zirconia-based ceramic products such as golf putters and drivers, golf cleats, shirt buttons, and knife sharpeners. 

During the 1990s the company was partitioned into three operating divisions: Structural Products, Electronic Products, and Electronic Packages. 

In the 2000s, CoorsTek engineered new technical ceramic materials that were developed with specific properties for various applications within our markets. For the semiconductor industry we began offering PlasmaPure-UC™ alumina and PureSiC CVD Silicon Carbide. For the energy market CoorsTek developed Dura-Z™ zirconia and PhaseSiC™. 

R&D engineers developed reaction-bonded boron carbide, combining lighter weight with superior hardness for armor plates. 

In 2014, CoorsTek and the Coors family announced a $27 million commitment to fund a research partnership and the construction of the CoorsTek Center for Applied Science and Engineering, an interdisciplinary academic and research facility. The investment is a significant milestone in the multigenerational partnership between CoorsTek and Mines.

As part of our continued efforts to represent CoorsTek as the world leader in engineered ceramics and advanced materials, we created an updated visual identity fully reflecting the CoorsTek of today – and tomorrow – a company that is expert, innovative, and collaborative.

CoorsTek worked with NASA on MOXIE, part of the Mars Rover Perseverance, which uses CoorsTek technology to produce oxygen from the CO₂ in the Martian atmosphere.

CoorsTek has developed state-of-the-art polycrystalline YAG (high-purity Yttrium Aluminum Garnet) optoceramics, offering a scalable solution for laser applications.

At CoorsTek, we have a set of principles that guide how we engage with our business partners, our employees, and the world around us. From the products we make to the people we employ, The CoorsTek Way is fundamental to the way we do business and to achieving our vision of "To Make the World Measurably Better."