Old Brick Factory Ruin Is Landmark of Pioneer Firm
It took the better part of one man’s lifetime to dig a big hole just south of St. Cloud.
Beyond the orphanage, where the land slopes gently toward the Mississippi, a huge gaping pit now carpeted with weeds and scattered poplar saplings tells the story of a once-flourishing industry which passed away with the pioneer who gave it half a century’s vitality.
The old Hess brick factory, long a landmark to the many oldtimers who at one time or another in the old days had a hand in converting the raw clay of its yawning pit into high quality building bricks and tile blocks, today stands silent, deserted, half-buried beneath invading vegetation.
“Ancient” Kilns
Still partially standing are two small square baking kilns which Henry Hess erected 75 years ago from which came the brick used to construct many of the older residences still to be seen in various districts of the city.
Also giving mute testimony of the indestructiveness of the old brick-makers’ product are the two huge round downdraft kilns and central chimney which, visible from the old St. Augusta highway, daily tempt the curiosity of passing motorists.
The domed roof of one of the kilns has fallen in, but the other is as intact as when it was first built.
Successors Failed
Evidence of how the brick factory died with its founder is a pile of inferior crumbling bricks, the last to be taken from the kilns by the less experienced successors of Henry Hess, who found it impossible to duplicate his craftsmanship.
They stopped trying thirteen years ago…and the entire establishment has since fallen a pathetic victim to the corrosions of time and weather.
Metallic parts of abandoned equipment are caked and scaley with rust, and wooden buildings and fixtures are rotted, warped and tumbledown.
Several wooden roofs have caved in completely, and raw clay, now dried and hardened by the years, jams the spiral screw of the molding and cutting machine.
Carved into one of the floor boards of the clay crushing shack is this inscription…
“Gilbert Zieglemeier, Waite Park, Minn., car puller, 1933.”
And that’s a comparatively recent date in the history of the plant, inscribed shortly before operations were shut down.
Time Takes Toll
Depression, wage competition from larger brick factories elsewhere which hire low-salaried Mexican labor, lack of experienced workers and a decline in the demand for bricks were given as reasons for the shut-down by Caroline Hess, daughter of the founder, who still lives with her sister Alma in the old Hess residence a short distance from the factory.
A brother, John, owns the land on which the factory is situated.
The old factory was a beehive of activity for many years. It used to average a daily production of about 30,000 bricks, or about a carload and a half. Its record for brick manufactured in one day was 45,000.
In the heyday of its operation, the Hess plant used to sell bricks for about ten dollars per thousand…a striking contrast to the much higher costs of such building materials today.
Huge Clay Deposit
An enormous clay deposit, which extends nearly all the way from the St. Augusta road to the Mississippi river, provided the raw material for the factory’s products which included various types of tile blocks as well as bricks.
As huge as is the 75-year-old clay pit, it is hardly more than a dent in the wide, deep deposit.
Proof that Henry Hess the brick maker knew his business can be found in the old Hess residence now occupied by the two sisters. The larger part of this sturdy building was constructed of the first bricks to come from the factory 75 years ago.
Now a dilapidated ruin, the Hess brick factory sinks ever further into decay, and must eventually disappear entirely…unless a craftsman and manager of Henry Hess’ caliber arrives on the scene to resurrect one of St. Cloud’s oldest industries. (St. Cloud Daily Times, Monday, April 22, 1946, Used With Permission of the St. Cloud Times)