The Museum of Ceramics has an extensive collection of the ceramic wares produced in the city long known as "America's Crockery City" and "The Pottery Capitol of the Nation." Related displays on East Liverpool's social, political and economic history show the impact of the pottery industry on the community and the nation. During the late nineteenth century, ceramic manufacturing was more important in East Liverpool than steel production was in Pittsburgh or automobile manufacturing in Detroit.

The Museum building was originally the city post office, a magnificent Beaux Arts style masterpiece built in 1909. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the museum opened in 1980.