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MINNESOTA.
The clay-working industry seems to have begun in the State in 1844 when brick were being manufactured at Dodge City and drain tile at Kasson (Ref. 94, p. 375).
Common brick were made near Dayton in Wright County in 1855 (Ref. 95, p. 260), and in the following year, 1856, the manufacture of red brick was undertaken at Sunrise (Ref. 95, p. 424). That these represent practically all the firms in operation at that time is seen by the fact that the Census of 1860 gives returns from but two brickyards and one pottery.
In the sixties, several firms began the manufacture of brick,
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all using, so far as we know, surface clays. The localities and approximate dates of establishment are as follows: La Sueur, 1860; St. Cloud, Stearns County, 1861; Yellow Medicine, 1862; Oshawa, 1862 (using Minnesota River alluvium); Shakopee, 1864; Chaska, 1864; Baldwin, 1865; Blue Earth County, 1867; Shelby, 1867; and Carver County, 1869 (Refs. 94 and 95). Of these the Yellow Medicine yard was in operation only until the Indian outbreak of 1862; some of the others went out of existence later; but works at St. Cloud, Shakopee, and Chaska are still in operation, but the industry at Chaska having developed so that by 1884 there were eight yards using machinery and shipping brick to St. Paul and Minneapolis and also into adjoining States (Ref. 95, p. 141).
The most important industry developed in the seventies was the establishment of a pottery at Red Wing. The original owner of the land was Joseph Pohl who manufactured pottery previous to 1870 (Ref. 95, p. 55). In all probability his pottery is the one mentioned in the Census of 1860. In the early seventies the clay (Cretaceous) was being worked by a Mr. Boynton and later by a Mr. Philles at Red Wing for pottery manufacture. From this beginning the Red Wing Stoneware Company was established in 1877. At this date a somewhat successful business of the same kind was being conducted by David Hallem, who sold out to the new company, making for them their first molds and kilns (Ref. 95, p. 55). Of Mr. Hallem, Col. Codvill writes: “Hallem was a very ingenious man, and an enthusiast. He had to learn kiln burning and making by his own experiments. He was really broken down by the Akron folks, who, after he had succeeded in making good ware, put the price of their ware down one half to our dealers who were fools enough to buy, thus destroying his market and their own local enterprise” (Ref. 95, p. 55). The Minnesota Survey Report (Ref. 95, p. 56) says, “The Red Wing Stoneware Company carry on the largest establishment of its kind in the United States, producing in 1885 the enormous amount of more than 1,500,000 gallons besides a large quantity of flower pots.” Their glaze came from Albany, N.Y. (Ref. 95, p. 56). This pottery is still in operation, and the company is also starting a plant at Hopkins, which
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will be supplied by clay from Red Wing, Minn., and Fort Dodge, Ia. Two miles north of Minneapolis brickmaking began in 1871 (Ref. 95, p. 423), and the following year, 1872, yards were established at Fergus Falls in Otter Tail County, and at Henderson, the latter yard using Minnesota River alluvium (Ref. 95, p. 177 and p. 558).
During the next eight years brickmaking was begun in different places as follows: in Clay County, 1874; New London, 1875, using lake clay; Princeton, 1876; Glenwood, 1876; and Alexandria, 1877, using surface clays; Fish Lake, and in McLeod County, in 1878; and in 1879 at Litchfield, Kingston, DeGraff, Montevideo, Beaver Falls, Brainerd, and points in Waldema and Rood counties (Ref. 95). During the period 1875-80 potteries were established at Caledonia, Jonesville, Jackson, and New Ulm.
Red-pressed brick were made at Red Wing in 1882, and the Capitol at St. Paul is constructed from them (Refs. 94 and 95, p. 55). At the same time common brick were made extensively at Red Wing, there being five yards in operation (Ref. 95, p. 55).
The pottery at Mankato began the manufacture of drain tile in 1884, while a pottery at Owatonna in the same year was making pottery and fire brick, using, in part at least, a clay from Eldora, Iowa (Ref. 94, p. 402). The Mankato pottery discontinued a number of years ago, and the New Ulm works has been shut down for several years.
A review of the Minnesota geological reports of the early eighties shows that the brickmaking industries were firmly established, and mention is made of yards, in addition to those noted above, as established at Farmington, Dakota County, in Grant and Stevens counties, in Hennepin County, Detroit in Becker County, and at a number of localities in Wabasha County (Ref. 95). Mention is also made of a porcelain clay said to occur in the northern part of Chester and Guilford counties, but it is not worked (Ref. 95, p. 19). At the present time brickyards are in operation at a number of points in the State, but the most important markets being at St. Paul and Minneapolis, the industry is naturally stimulated in that region. These markets also
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attract bricks from northwestern Wisconsin, especially from the Menomonie district.
Hollow brick are produced in large quantities at Zumbrota and Brickton, while the only important pottery is at Red Wing.1
The figures of production from 1894 to 1907 are given in the following table. Common brick, front brick, and drain tile are the only ones showing a steady annual production by three or more firms, and hence capable of being listed separately. The miscellaneous column, includes sewer pipe and fireproofing for all years between 1894 and 1907, and a scattered production of vitrified brick, ornamental brick, architectural terra cotta, hollow brick, fire brick, red earthenware and stoneware.
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(a) Included under miscellaneous.
Reference 94. Minnesota Geological Survey 1872-82. Pt. I. 1884.
Reference 95. Minnesota Geological Survey 1872-82. Pt. II. 1888.
Source:
History of the Clay-Working Industy in the United States
Heinrich Ries and Henry Leighton
John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1909