EAST DUNDEE, Ill. (AP) – A suburban Chicago pottery company whose products helped rebuild Chicago after the 1871 fire is closing due to economic conditions and foreign competition.

David Haeger started Haeger Potteries in 1871 making bricks and later specializing in pottery and glazed art ware.

Son Edmund Haeger built a working ceramics factory at the 1933-1934 Chicago World’s Fair. He hired designers and continued expanding the East Dundee-based company.

Haeger’s great granddaughter, Lexy Haeger Estes, became Haeger Industries president in 1979. She says ending company operations next month is “the most difficult decision we have ever faced.”

Haeger Estes told the Daily Herald that it became increasingly difficult for the business to stay open. Gift shops and independent furniture stores are hard to come by, she said, and larger stores are buying their goods from abroad.

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Information from: Daily Herald, http://www.dailyherald.com

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AP-WF-04-07-16 1124GMT