Remember when: the beauty of the life of a brick

By Guest Columnist Mary Jane Boutwell

One of my life lessons is not to dwell on why a subject of interest develops. Several years ago, Bobby Heath talked about making homemade bricks. We were in the alley going to the back of the old Trolio Hotel, now home of Convention and Tourism. A number of the bricks were shedding. Bobby told me that in the brick kiln, the ones closest to the heat source were the hardest. The silicon (grains of sand) in the clay would not make a glaze. They were used on the outside of the wall and called “face brick.” The softer bricks were used inside the wall, protected by the face brick. 

Part of my interest was due to the Old Jail, with walls three or more bricks thick. In almost one hundred years of use as a jail, only one prisoner escaped. He dug the mortar out with a toothbrush handle. The mortar was soft with a large amount of lime. Interesting, but the part that captured my attention has been the repair done in the 1950s-60s. It used a modern mortar that was much harder. It may pull bricks apart, even the hard faced bricks. 

Maureen Simpson’s mother ran a hotel on the corner of Short Hickory and Peace Street. As we were talking about soft bricks, she told me that her mother had to coat the street side of the brick wall, as the youngsters walking along the wall ran their fingers along the bricks and were destroying the wall. 

One of the neighbors, Harold Ray Turner, told me that after buying and moving to his place west of Canton, he bulldozed a brick kiln that was in one of his fields. He needed a producing field. 

Bobby Heath told me of a kiln off Highway 55 on the way to Allison’s Wells. 

Recently, a scrapbook put together by LulaMae (Mrs. Frank) Chisholm concerning the Old Madison Presbyterian Church and community was brought to the church. There was a centennial history of the First Presbyterian Church of Canton published in 1937 in the scrapbook. As I glanced at it, it fell open to a page telling that some bricks for the church were made by Mr. John Alsworth, who lived west of Canton. The church was completed in 1852-53. It was not dedicated because of debt – possibly for the bricks. 

My interest was due to the fact that Alsworth was an elder at First Pres but was instrumental in the founding of the Madison Church in 1845. It became Old Madison when it reopened in 1945 – no bricks other than foundation pillows. 

Oh, according to my reading, Mr. John had built his two-story brick home about four miles west of Canton. Perhaps that is why he had the knowledge for brickmaking and a kiln. 
My question is, where was the clay for the bricks dug? It had to be close to the early 1800s. It had to be the right material, or the bricks would not withstand the elements. I remember the beautiful bricks used for the foundation of the old REA building, where Phillips Hardware parking lot is today. When the building was torn down, the beautiful brick foundation was left standing there. I wanted them so badly, until rain hit the unprotected bricks. They made a gorgeous red sand pile. 

Just recently, I was reading Jim Lacey’s “History Bits, Volume II,” and it said in 1873 there was a brickyard opened next to the railroad. It was called Brickyard Hill. It seems as if there were a number of kilns in the county. Do you know of any? Possibly the remains of one? I would like to know.