Colorful 60’s History with Exotic Zoo

Ted Philpott, who founded the American Art Clay Company (AMACO) in 1919, was an avid big game hunter. Although he collected trophies, Philpott more often brought back live animals for a zoo he started at AMACO—a great attraction for schoolchildren touring the plant. When Philpott died in 1966 his family donated the animals to the Indianapolis Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo, and Busch Gardens.

From Big Cats to Big Bond
AMACO’s Colorful History

Excerpts from Ceramic Scope– July/August, 1989

American Art Clay Co., Inc, (AMACO®) of Indianapolis boasts a history as colorful as the paints and glazes it sells. The company was founded in 1919 by T. O. Philpott, a pharmacist who, thanks to a traveling Englishman, found himself with a formula for making a children’s modeling clay, the first to be made in the United States.

Hoping to drum up a few accounts, T. O. took the product to New York. Woolworth’s jumped at the product, and AMACO was born. In typical Horatio Alger fashion, T. O. worked hard and the company grew. Relates grandson Jeff Sandoe, “He didn’t take his first vacation until he was 65 years old, and when he did, he did it big.”

: In the 60’s, tours at the plant often began at the AMACO® Zoo. Here “Jack and Jill” enjoy some sun. They were captured as cubs, raised at the AMACO® Zoo, and later had a litter of their own cubs. After  T.O. Philpott’s death, all of the animals were donated to various zoos across the country.

T.O. went safari hunting. From those ventures, he brought back animals. Not dead ones—although he did that, too, and trophies still line the walls of AMACO’s conference room—but live ones, and started a zoo right at AMACO, a great attraction for schoolchildren who toured the plant. T. O. was also an avid deep-sea fisherman and colorful society figure.

When T. O. died in 1966, John Gormley, who had worked his way up to Sales Manager, took over as President at AMACO until he retired in 1977.

Today, the man running the company is L. Bond Sandoe, Jr. It is fitting that in this second-generation, family-owned business, T. O.’s son-in-law is now in charge. It’s not merely a sense of family loyalty that has Sandoe at the helm. Sandoe has been on a fast track since high school, where at Culver Military Academy he rose to the rank of company commander. Since then his accolades include varsity swimmer at Duke University, Air Force fighter pilot, and million-dollar salesman at Equitable Life Assurance Society (in his first year with the company no less).

Though he is a much more understated leader than T. O. was, Sandoe is leaving as indelible a mark on the company as his late father-in-law. He can be an aggressive business executive, yet have no qualms about being found entertaining his three granddaughters (who call him Big Bond) as they color and model clay together in his office. Given that he has no tigers or cheetahs to leave behind, it wouldn’t be a bad way to be remembered.