A. C. Ochs, Springfield, Minn., in a recent communication, says he will start a branch brick and tile yard at Heron Lake, Minn., with head office at Springfield. He thinks he has an excellent quality of clay for both brick and tile. (The Clay Worker, T. A. Randall & Co., Indianapolis, January 1900, Volume XXXIII, Number 1, Page 54)
The New Brick Yard. As stated in the NEWS last week, Heron Lake is to have a brick yard this coming season, which will be operated by A. C. Ochs & Co., of Springfield, Minn., who have purchased ten acres of ground from L. B. Lerud. Mr. Ochs was here on Friday last and made the first start towards the yard by placing a brick moulding machine on the grounds. He stated to the NEWS editor that he would return in about two weeks and that the machinery would be installed and the yards put in condition just as rapidly as the weather will permit. It is expected to have everything in shape for work by the time spring opens. Messrs. Ochs & Co. are experienced brick men, of ample capital to push their manufactures, and will be a decided acquisition to our town. Last year their Springfield yards, which they will continue to operate, turned out over 4,000,000 brick, all of which found a ready market and they pronounce the clay at this place equal if not superior to that at Springfield. (Heron Lake News, January 4, 1900, Unknown Page)
Springfield. Geo. Neudecker has sold his house and lot to Andrew Kopp for $700 and will go to Heron Lake as manager of A. C. Ochs’ new brick yard. (New Ulm Review, Wednesday, February 28, 1900, Volume XXII, Number 9, Page 8)
A. C. Ochs reported sale of 350,000 brick for the new Catholic Church in Adrian, Minnesota. (Heron Lake News, July 5, 1900, Unknown Page)
The output of brick at Ochs’ Springfield brick yard the past season was 4,360,000. At the Heron Lake yards there were made 1,375,000. The demand for brick was so good that only 500,000 remain, hardly enough to last until spring. Mr. Ochs made a contract some time ago for 1,800 cords of wood to be used in both of his yards. (New Ulm Review, Wednesday, December 26, 1900, Volume XXII, Number 53, Page 10)
Information Wanted About Drying. In my yard at Heron Lake, Minn., I have a very fine clay, but find that I lose a good many brick in drying. They do no crack while they lie flat on the yard, but seem to crack while in the racks. The cracks are so fine that they cannot very readily be detected, but the brick will break when wheeled to the kiln or after they are burnt or while loading them on the wagons. Most all of them break about 1 ½ to 2 inches from the end. I make soft mud sand-mold brick, the clay being soaked over night, then tempered with a tempering wheel five hours, and molded with a horse-power Quaker machine. We dump brick on the open yard, hack them as soon as we can, and cover them with saddles and sideboards as usual. If some of the readers of The Clay-Worker could name me a remedy I would be very much obliged. A. C. Ochs. (The Clay Worker, T. A. Randall & Co. Publishers, Indianapolis, Indiana, January 1901, Volume XXXIV, Number 1, Page 47)
A. C. Ochs, Springfield, Minn., is proprietor of two up-to-date brickyards at Springfield and Heron Lake, Minn. Mr. Ochs manufactures common, well, hollow brick, hollow block, drain tile and red sand-mold veneer brick. Mr. Ochs has been commemorating a most successful year by mailing to his friends in the trade a colored picture postal card of his residence and a beautiful reproduction of a famous painting on the back. If you are curious, write to Mr. Ochs and find out what these look like. When you write, mention "Brick." (Brick and Clay Record, Volume XXVI, Number 1, January 1907, Kenfield Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, Page 75)
The Heron Lake Brick & Tile Co., Heron Lake, Minn., has incorporated with a capital of $35,000. A. C. Ochs, Springfield, Minn., is president of the new company. The management of the plant will be in the hands of C. K. Willard. Mr. Ochs has been manufacturing brick successfully for the last 20 years and his Springfield enterprise is one of the best equipped in the state. The plant at Heron Lake is supplied with machinery of the latest type capable of producing brick, tile, hollow block and fireproofing in large quantities and of high grade. (Brick and Clay Record, Volume XXVII, Number 1, July 1907, Kenfield Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, Page 36)
The Heron Lake Brick & Tile Co., has filed articles of incorporation at Heron Lake, Minn., with a capital stock of $35,000. Directors: A. C. Ochs, Springfield; C. K. Willard, Mankato, and Wm. A. Ochs, Lamberton, Minn. The active management of the concern will be in the hands of Mr. Willard and the very latest machinery will be installed. Brick, tile, hollow block and fireproofing will be manufactured. (Brick and Clay Record, Volume XXVII, Number 1, July 1907, Kenfield Publishing Co., Chicago, IL, Page 40)
The Heron Lake (Minn.) Brick & Tile Co. are finishing the new Kilns and have already placed much of the new machinery and will soon start. (Clay Record, Clay Record Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, April 30, 1908, Volume XXXII, Number 8, Page 36)
Many improvements are being made on the plant of the Heron Lake (Minn.) Brick & Tile Co. A. C. Ochs, proprietor. (Brick and Clay Record, Volume XXVIII, Number 6, June 1908, Kenfield-Leach Co., Chicago, IL, Page 293)
The Heron Lake Brick & Tile Co., Heron Lake, Minn., intend to install a waste heat drying system and equipment to enable them to produce 40,000 per day. (Brick and Clay Record, Volume XXIX, Number 4, October 1908, Kenfield-Leach Co., Chicago, IL, Page 460)
The plant of the A. C. Ochs Brick & Tile Co., Heron Lake, Minn, was recently badly damaged by a heavy storm. (Brick and Clay Record, Volume XXXI, Number 2, August 1909, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, IL, Page 81)
A Fierce Storm. Cyclone Visited this section last Thursday and did much Damage. Last Thursday about three o’clock a cyclone struck this part of the state doing much damage to buildings and crops. The storm came from the southwest, starting in South Dakota and covering Southern Minnesota pretty thoroughly. In Heron Lake and vicinity the damage will run to fully one hundred thousand dollars. In the village several buildings were nearly unroofed, trees were blown down, and in some cases uprooted. The large tree at the corner of the Chapman house, which has been a land mark ever since there was a Heron Lake, was twisted off, the depot was peeled of shingles and the rain poured in in torrents, fronts of store buildings were damaged, glass broken, etc. The worst damage was done to crops, and many thousands of dollars will be lost. (Heron Lake News, Unknown Date, Page 1)
Bouquets Thrown at Heron Lake Brick & Tile Co. The Heron Lake Brick & Tile Co., Heron Lake, Minn., report that they are receiving many orders for their hollow brick and building tile, and, what is no less gratifying, are receiving all sorts of compliments from those who are using them. Among other orders they are furnishing the building tile for the new Science Building at the State Normal, Madison, S. D. They have also just completed an order for over half a million of hollow and solid brick and building tile for a $90,000 school at Mitchell, S. D. (Brick and Clay Record, Volume XXXI, Number 4, October 1909, Kenfield-Leach Co., Chicago, IL, Page 143)
The Willard Brick & Tile Co., at Heron Lake, Minn., is reported to be doing a fine business and plans are being made for enlarging the works to keep pace with the demand. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, January 1, 1911, Volume XXXVIII, Number 1, Page 54)
The A. C. Ochs Co., of Heron Lake, Minn., is expending a large amount of money in expanding its brick and tile plant in order to keep up with the demand for its goods. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, August 1, 1911, Volume XXXIX, Number 3, Page 112)
The Heron Lake Brick & Tile Co., of Heron Lake, Minn., adopted a plan of inducing its workmen to remain during the season, by paying a bonus. The plant paid workmen $1.75 a day, but to the workmen who started work early in the season and remained throughout the season, they paid a bonus of twenty-five cents a day. This resulted in maintaining the organization in a compact shape better than ever, and the crew showed quite a number who worked through most of the season, the number of days of bonus earned varying. The bonus cost the plant about $800 for the season. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, January 1, 1912, Volume XL, Number 1, Page 74)
Heron Lake (Minn.) Brick & Tile Co. – "Conditions look much better to us than they did sixty to ninety days ago." (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Company, Chicago, January 1, 1912, Volume XL, Number 1, Page 64)
As an incentive for a number of years past, the Heron Lake Brick & Tile Co., of Heron Lake, Minn., has paid its workmen a bonus of twenty-five cents a day, for working steadily through the season. The excess is paid them at the end of the season and affords a snug little extra amount. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Publishing Company, Chicago, March 1, 1913, Volume XLII, Number 5, Page 286)
The Heron Lake Brick & Tile Company, Heron Lake, Minn., has installed a special No. 2 Dodge Eureka Water Softener. This machine is rated 125 gallons per hour. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield-Leach Publishing Company, Chicago, May 15, 1913, Volume XLII, Number 10, Page 876)
Last week the Board of Education of Lamberton awarded the general contract for the new consolidated school building to Madsen Bros. of Minneapolis. There were 18 bids for the building and the balance of the 43 bids were for equipment. The building is to be of brick construction. The interior brick will be furnished by the A. C. Ochs Brick & Tile Co. of Heron Lake and the exterior will be Twin City face brick. When completed the building will cost fully $45,000. (New Ulm Review, Wednesday, April 14, 1915, Volume XXXVI, Number 15, Page 5)
Brick Yards are Damage (Damaged). The recent storm which swept over the southern part of the state wrought havoc with the plant of the Heron Lake Brick and Tile company, of which A. C. Ochs of Springfield is the principle owner. Seemingly the plant suffered the full force of the terrific wind, for out of a total of fifteen smokestakes (smokestacks) only two remained intact. One of these smokestacks was 75 feet in height and in falling wrought no end of damages to the plant. Twelve were kiln stacks and ranged in height from 25 to 30 feet. The plant, with the exception of the stacks, was insured. Mr. Ochs states that the damages amounted to fully $5,000, on which there was $3,000 insurance. The loss has been satisfactorily adjusted and it is thought that repairs can be made so that the plant can be operated again in about ten days. At the time the storm hit the plant thirty-five men were at work, not one of whom received a scratch. (New Ulm Review, Wednesday, July 28, 1915, Volume XXXVI, Number 30, Page 3)
The Heron Lake Brick & Tile Co., Heron Lake, Minn., closed down its plant January 15 for the purpose of overhauling same. During the shutdown a new brickmaking machine will be installed. The company now has on its books orders for more than 1,000,000 brick for early spring delivery. (The Clay Worker, Industrial Publications, Inc., Chicago, February 1918, Volume LXIX, Number 2, Page 187)
Page 179. A gentle slope of about 100 acres on the shore of Heron Lake is underlain by 12 feet of yellow laminated clay, probably in part of glacial origin and in part recent. The laminae are of variable thickness, and many of the vertical joints are stained with iron. The deposit is surrounded on all sides by pebbly gray drift, except along the lake.
Page 180. A company at Heron Lake has been at work since 1890 producing hollow brick and tile in a number of downdraft kilns with a capacity of about 80,000 a day. The product is cream-colored if burned hard and salmon-colored at lower temperatures. The clay is more suitable for hollow brick and tile than for any other products. The fusion is so sudden that the products are seldom vitrified. (Clays and Shales of Minnesota, By Frank F. Grout, With Contributions by E. K. Soper, United States Geological Survey, Bulletin 678, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1919)
Extensive improvements have been made at the plant of the Heron Lake (Minn.) Brick & Tile Works, including the installation of a clay crusher. This is in keeping with the policy of the company to keep the plant up-to-date in every particular. The daily capacity of the plant is 30,000 brick. (The Clay Worker, T. A. Randall & Company, Indianapolis, June 1919, Volume LXXI, Number 7, Page 701)
The Heron Lake Brick & Tile Company, Heron Lake, Minn., which has been closed down for some time, will be started in the very near future. The owners report an improvement in business in that section which justifies it in again operating the plant. They had a large stock on hand at the time of closing down and so have been able to fill all orders up to this time. (The Clay Worker, Volume 76, Number 1, July 1921, T. A. Randall & Company, Indianapolis, Page 66)
Page 130. The Brickyard. In June of 1896 a bed of clay was found on the Buckeye farm. Many tests were taken to find its true value. About 40 bricks were tested and the clay proved to be a pinkish, cream color and solid as a rock. It was of superior quality for ornamental work and floor tiling. Mr. A. C. Ochs set up the brickyard in 1900. He was so satisfied with the brick that he assured the people that one million would be made the first year. Ochs was also pleased with the clay and he planned to put in a new plant and manufacture hollow brick and tile. By June the workers had completed building the new sheds and were busy working on the kiln. A gas engine was installed to pump water and Heron Lake was soon to have bricks on the market. In May of 1900 the first kiln of bricks was fired. Orders were coming in from near and far and the yard was working at full capacity. One order for one-half million bricks was received from Winnipeg. Ten carloads were shipped to Slayton and 350,000 bricks were ordered to build the new Catholic Church at Adrian. Prospects looked good for the next year. September 1901 found the brickyard needing more room. Mr. Ochs purchased an additional 20 acres of land where the yard was located. E. L. Ecker was also granted a permit to build a new home and engine house on the brickyard property. In 1901 a new brick machine operated by a much larger gas engine was installed. This doubled the output of brick. On June 13, 1907 the brickyard filed an article of incorporation with a capital stock of $35,000.00. A corporation was formed with A. C. Ochs of Springfield, C. K. Willard of Mankato, and William C. Ochs of
Page 131. Lamberton. Under the able management of Mr. Willard, the Omaha railroad began laying tracks to the brickyard. By 1908 the brickyard was working full time, giving employment to many local people. They were using a pug mill, crusher and a 100 horsepower engine to operate the plant. Another bed of clay was found on the edge of town, feasible for use. In January of 1913 the yard closed for the season, with one of the longest runs in the history of the company. Figures showed that the company turned out 8,250,000 bricks. Many of these went into building the fire proof University of South Dakota Vermillion. Orders were being shipped to Edmonton, Manitoba (Alberta), Canada, a distance of 1,200 miles. The brickyards shipped 385 carloads of material and made 85 kilns of wares in 1918. Many times during the harvest season the plant would close for a few weeks so the workers could help in the harvest fields. In 1920 the yard was working on a new coal conveyor. This machine distributed coal to the various kilns, thus saving much man power. The conveyor was a 750 foot belt, run by a eight horsepower engine. Another order of four cars of tile was received from Miles City, Montana. With the quality of the brick and fair prices, orders were coming in from many miles around. June of 1923 found the workers talking of a strike. They demanded 25ȼ an hour bonus to be paid at the end of the season’s run, to be applied to their wages. The demands were met, thus averting a strike. With the many workers employed at the brickyard, many homes were built using the brick and tile. Some homes still in use include those occupied by Paul Lohse and Daisy Cooley, of brick, and those of Jack Meixner, Norman Allen and Wretha Haberman, built of hollow brick. A new pit was opened in 1920. Many tons of clay were taken before workmen noticed tiny white spots on some tile. The tile was watched closely, and finding some cracked after a rain, it was determined that the white spots were lime. These tile were being shipped to build the Minneapolis Auditorium at the time. Upon
Page 132. hearing of the lime in the tile, the builders stopped buying Heron Lake brick and looked elsewhere for material. After much research the spots were believed to be the droppings from the many herons that had lived in the marsh and surrounding areas. This seemed to be the fate of the brickyard. With the depression now coming and the lime scare, the brickyard would have to close. By October of 1936 the brickyard was a thing of the past, having not been in operation for several years. Mr. Ochs sold the 100 acres of land to Oliver Tollefson. For a limited time he gave away #2 hollow block. Heron Lake brick may be found in such well known buildings as the Foshay Tower, Nicollet Hotel, Minneapolis Auditorium, South Dakota University and others. On December 13, 1951 word was received that Mr. Willard was killed while crossing a street in St. Paul. (Unknown Source)
City Brick & Tile Factory Was Once a Major Business Here. Certain of the pioneers who came here in the early 1870’s found that the underlying banks of clay here could be made into splendid building blocks, and as a result, some utilized the clay and built or reinforced their sod houses with the sun-baked bricks. Aware of the commercial potential of the thick layers of almost pure clay underlying the thick, black soil, a small operation was started here - using horse power - about 1907. Production was slow at best, on a one-man scale. But without an outlet, no great interest was generated in the initial operation. Then in 1909 the A. C. Ochs Brick and Tile Co. absorbed the little plant, and after a careful investigation of the amount of clay present here, invested heavily in a sizeable commercial operation to manufacture partition and floor tile. For 10 years, with C. K. Willard as manager, the factory hummed, turning out hundreds of carloads of tile of various sizes. The plant expanded, prospered and furnished employment for as many as 50 men at its peak. The average number, however, was about 40. A special siding was built to the plant over which the product was shuttled - along with some three or four cars of coal a week - to the main line of the Omaha here. Operations continued for about nine months of the year on an average, shutting down only in the cold, bitter months.
To house their employees, a number of houses - still standing - were erected in Heron Lake of the company’s tile. The firm’s attractive wage scale attracted workmen, and the company was always able to keep a full crew. Paid every two weeks, the workmen at first received 18 cents an hour - $1.80 for the 10-hour day - but this figure zoomed to 50 cents an hour by 1920. In its heyday about three carloads of tile were produced daily at the plant. These went into such well-known buildings as the Foshay Tower, the Nicollet hotel and the Minneapolis auditorium plus scores of other buildings about the country. Not even the devastating tornado of July 15, 1915, which practically wiped out the plant, could halt progress. Working feverishly, a horde of workmen soon had the factory going full tilt again. More than a half dozen vastly different types of work went into the tile making operation. First, in the clay pits, the crews with their mechanically-operated shaver would load the 2-yard capacity cars. For many years a splendid team of big, dapple grays went about their car shuttling work down in the pits. These were the pride and joy of their driver, Hector Gartwaitte. Once the cars were hauled to the factory and dumped, the clay was ground, mixed, molded and dried preparatory to being introduced to the immense heat of the kilns a short distance away.
Ingenious Albert Hecker, engineer at the factory from 1919 to 1929, together with John McKellar, devised a coal unloading system of hoppers, an elevator and then an endless belt to the kilns, which saved many man-hours of time. All of one summer was spent building the system. Seven kilns - in a row - received the partially dried tile. Once a kiln had been piled full and the door closed, the week-long-firing operation got under way. Into each of the six fireplaces around each kiln coal was continuously fed, steadily increasing the inside temperature to about 2500 degrees. Two local residents who tended the kilns, among others, are Harry Hammond and Frank J. Hager, Jr. The firemen worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, unless relieved. Bill Hager for many years was the pit "transfer" man. It was while the local factory was furnishing the soft tile for the Minneapolis auditorium that the "axe" fell which eventually was to spell doom to the Heron Lake factory. In the early 1920’s a new pit was opened - during the winter - to keep up with the demand. Normally, work would have been discontinued, until spring, but the tile demands for the big structure continued unabated. To keep up, work proceeded. That new pit spelled trouble.
Tons and tons of clay were taken from that pit, run thru the factory and kilns and hurried via rail to the building site. One day workmen on the job there noticed minute white spots on the tile. Suspicious that those spots might be lime - which would make the blocks weak and useless - they watched them with a wary eye for a few days. Then one chilly night in 1920 it rained! The little white spots were indeed lime! The tile cracked when the lime absorbed water and expanded, opening fissures in the face of the tile. It was the end of Heron Lake tile on the job. But that was not the worst news. Word spread that Heron Lake tile contained lime, and soon no architect would accept locally-made tile on any job! Concerned no end, the plant owners quickly had experts on the job here to determine the source of the lime. By this time the pre-summer sun had warmed the exposed south walls of the clay pit from which the material had been taken. After a careful examination, a thin layer of lime indeed was found! The source of the trouble had been located; now perfect tile - free of lime - could be made, but the contractors would have no part of Heron Lake tile. It was the beginning of the end of a big business for Heron Lake.
Even so, with care being exercised to see that no lime was permitted to adulterate the clay, the factory operated until 1929. To further complicate matters, a depression was at hand, and there was no demand for the factory’s product. The yards were glutted with all types of tile. All this time a study was being made of "how come" those offending thin layers of white lime. Finally it was definitely concluded that the lime was nothing more than the droppings of birds many years ago, more than likely from the hundreds of thousands of herons that once inhabited the marsh and surrounding area. In order to produce desirable tile, when the workmen in the pits came upon a seam of this white lime, they would dig it out and discard it. But the combination of the contractors’ "blackball" of Heron Lake tile and the depression could not be whipped. Soon the factory was down to a skeleton crew. Then, when Albert "Shorty" Hecker was laid off - the last workman to leave - the end was in sight. All that remained then was to sell as best they could the already made tile standing everywhere about the yard. Present owner of the site is George Plasterer. Now where once sweating workmen strained under back-breaking loads of fired clay tile, an occasional hog or two in Mr. Plasterer’s feed lot will seek refuge from a summer sun in the cool interior of what once was a white-hot kiln - and big business for Heron Lake. (Heron Lake News, May 29, 1958, Unknown Page)