Menomonie Brickyards Part 1

First of a series being written about our almost forgotten dance with the red clay!

Brickyards of Menomonie Part 1:

Billions upon Billions of bricks followed in the footsteps of the great lumber industry in America. The building industry readily latched onto the relatively cheap and fire-resistant material and as its popularity grew, so did the look, texture, color and sizes of the product. Brick is ancient, relatively easy to make and requires few ingredients. Dunn County not only had the pineries for lumber, the sandstone for large, impressive buildings, but also contains a wealth of the materials needed to make bricks. The rich vein of clay spreads from here to the St. Croix River and surprisingly contains the layers of sand necessary for mixing with the clay to make great bricks! The water resources here are plentiful and before cheap coal came along, the dross from the lumber mills provided fuel to fire the massive kilns that occupied the west side of the Red Cedar River.

Lumber is one of the most versatile building products that man has ever found. It can be cut to any size or shape and its natural strength fits perfectly into the needs of man for many uses. Sandstone blocks cut from the huge layers of stone compressed under three oceans here in the Driftless Zone makes it perfect for large, impressive structures. The density of the stone allows for intricate carvings that enhance the appearance of the assembled blocks making a statement that lasts for generations. To set your new building project apart from the plain lumber structures that are prone to fires and weathering, you could invest in the costly Dunnville Stone, or you could easily avail yourself of the relatively cheap bricks made right here with a nice red color sure to make your business or home stand out from the crowd! Easy to build with and bricks don’t burn down, so the Sanborn map people will get you a better insurance rate.

Menomonie was home to at least seven brickyards before brick lost its lead in the fire prevention/ building market. Newly invented concrete block edged out brick and many other products as the novel, versatile and sturdy product took hold. The brick industry even tried to counter that with their ‘clay tile’ product but it was no match for the strength and durability of concrete. Tainter Hall of JTC Dorms has clay tile used in its construction and the exterior walls of the house that I live in is constructed with clay tiles. Dunnville Stone could never stand up to the construction costs of cheap cement blocks. Each block of stone was heavy and had to be designed to hold a building together with interlocking pieces for corners, windows and doors. Stone required each piece to be fit exactly where it was to be placed and they were numbered at the quarry before being shipped to the job site where they were laid exactly as designed. The stone had to be ‘laid in its bed’ or it would never hold up to pressure and time in a building. The term ‘laid in its bed’ refers to the direction of the grain in the stone. The stone had to be placed in the wall in the same relative position that it came out of the block when quarried.

Brick is small, versatile, can have many colors or textures, can be laid in any direction and be made for a roadway, chimney, root cellar or building. One could simply lay them in without concern for its ‘bed’ or its position in the wall. Depending on the windows, doors and corners in a project, a good bricklayer with a tender can lay upward of a thousand brick in a day! Brick buildings are impressive on their own with the different colors throughout. The deep red hue of Menomonie brick stands out proud as a lasting monument to the ancient craft and iron rich deposits here. Along came cement blocks that overshadowed the stone buildings and brick facades in one fell swoop. Concrete blocks could mimic the rustication* done to stone blocks, act as structural bearings for high walls like stone had done. A good mason could lay around a hundred and forty blocks in a day and it would be a structurally complete wall.

Menomonie and the surrounding areas have been using locally produced brick since the 1860’s. Knapp Stout & Co had a brickyard as early as 1866. The quality of the bricks made there must not have been very good. In 1866, the Dunn County Board considered the use of brick for the newly proposed County offices. Much discussion was had over the years including one statement, “If it could be shown that a good quality of brick can be made here…”. Another, regarding the new Courthouse and Jail in Menomonie, “Poor bricks are poor things. That we can make good quality bricks here is yet to be seen.” Strong challenges are seen by bold men to be met and exceeded. Menomonie was filled with the enterprising spirit and the knowledgeable persons to do just that. With the town nearly burned to the ground several times, a market already existed, while the clay lay in wait across the river to the west.

The challenge was soon met, and several capable businessmen opened yards. Nearly all the yards had some success and inspired two other brickyards at Tramway and a couple of yards near ‘Lochiel’ also known as Wheeler. In order to have better control of the quality of brick used in the new Courthouse and Jail, a kiln was built on-site of the “Public Square” which was the eastern half of the land donated by T. B. Wilson. Canute Thompson was the contractor for the buildings and most likely supplied materials from his own Brickyard.

The history books and I will part ways at this point. Several print versions of our historical account give credit to Mr. J. M. Hughes for establishing the first brickyard operation in the 1860’s but as an unknown date. Printed records at the time point to the Knapp, Stout & Co Kilns in 1866 and no others advertised or mentioned. The 1866 record of meetings of the Dunn County Board hold small hope for the clay here to make ‘good’ bricks. According to print records of June 15, 1872, Canute Thompson stated that he had a kiln of two hundred thousand brick which will be ready for market. In February 1873, Mr. S. J. Bailey had purchased the brick making apparatus from Canute Thompson and would begin his operations that Spring.

The concern of Mr. J. M. Hughes first advertises May 17, 1873, he has “perfected arrangements for manufacturing brick on his farm west of the village. He will manufacture on a scale commensurate with all demands for the article.” Further evidence lies in correspondence from Mr. Hughes to the Dunn County News in 1912. Mr. Hughes writes that he “… came to Menomonie in 1867 where he went to work for Knapp, Stout & Co. as a clerk in their store for nearly four years. He then bought one hundred sixty acres of land where the Hydraulic Brickyard is.” He sold to John Hopwood in 1889 and moved to Virginia. Frank Kelley & Co. advertised on June 25, 1873, they had a New Yard west of the village and “have a hundred thousand already on hand.” October 31, 1874, Kelley and Co. were “burning a huge kiln of brick. It is the largest ever burned in Dunn County and contains about two hundred thousand. They have found a market for all they could make, and the future looks bright.”

There is much to be told about this industry in Menomonie. I believe the information about the second largest industrial endeavor in our community has been overlooked. When the lumber played out, it was “Bricks that made Menomonie Famous!”. This is the first of several articles about the brickmaking, the work, the people and the industry itself as it relates to us here. If anyone has questions or would like to have some personal family connections investigated, please let me know. I enjoy keeping these articles personal and I never fail to learn new things from my readers. I have not begun Article Two, so please bear with as time permits me to continue.

*rustication is the architectural term for the rough facing such as is seen on the stone blocks of Mabel Tainter Memorial building.