Cordes Brick Co

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Cordes Brick Co

1866

Kiessling, Elmer C., Watertown Remembered (Watertown: Watertown Historical Society), 1976, p 177.

In 1866 two Watertown brickyards employed 109 mainly seasonal workers, more than any other industry except the St. Paul Railroad. They produced ten million bricks each year and exported seven million. Visible reminders of this once thriving industry are the downtown brick buildings, the hundreds of brick houses scattered throughout the city and the two little lakes near the south end of Third Street. They were once filled with the clay used in making bricks. Mr. O. E. Carlson operated the last brickyard in Watertown between 1925 and 1935, with an annual production of three million bricks. The use of cement blocks in the construction industry made such inroads into the brick business that Wisconsin, which once had 30 brickyards, now has only one at Oakfield, near Fond du Lac.

1894

05 11 L. H. Cordes & Co. began making brick at their brick yards in the 7th ward on Monday with a force of 75 men. WG

1907

07 18 1907

Three remonstrances were presented to the council [at the last council meeting] from residents on Church Street protesting against the proposed paving of that street with brick and urging the use of macadam paving material. They are opposed to brick for several reasons. First, because of the high grade of that street; second, because brick is too noisy for a residence street; third, because brick paving is too expensive and would prove a burden to the tax payers. The communications were filed in order that the parties may have an opportunity to be heard.

Watertown Brick

1901

The Clays and Clay Industries of Wisconsin, By Ernest Robertson Buckley, Published by Published by the state, 1901

Two brick yards are located at this place, one of which is owned by L. H. Cordes and Company and the other by Cordes, Vaughn and Company. Both are now being operated under the management of L. H. Cordes and Company.

The combined output of the two yards is in the neighborhood of five million brick per year. The stock is graded and sold as common, chimney, sidewalk, well, and veneering brick.

The clay at this place has a total thickness of about twenty-five feet. The upper four or five feet contains a considerable percentage of sand and has a yellow color. The remaining twenty feet has a blue color and contains much less sand. The bank is now worked to a depth of about ten or twelve feet and the yellow and blue clays are mixed together in equal proportions.

To the clay as it comes from the bank about one-fifth sand is added. The clay is run through a crusher and then soaked for twenty-four hours in vats. The brick are moulded in soft mud machines, operated by steam power, dried in hacks on the yard, and burned in scove kilns.

The clay from this bank is very free from gravel and was at one time used in the manufacture of pottery.

The clay which occurs at the yard owned by Cordes, Vaughn and Company is essentially the same as that at the yard just described.

The brick which are manufactured from this clay have a white or cream color and are among the more desirable products of the calcareous clay region. Besides building brick, the clay is undoubtedly suitable for the manufacture of some of the commoner kinds of earthenware such as flower pots.

Cross References:

Chadwick Brick Company

Block, August, Sr (Wilhelmina)

1879, d. 1878, flour, feed, saloon, brickyard business

Boomer and Quentmeyer

Brick making business