St. Louis Press Brick Company

St. Louis Press Brick Company. Ronald J. Foster Heritage Trail. The St. Louis Press Brick Company was operated by the Niedringhaus family of Granite City. Articles of Incorporation for the St. Louis Press Brick Company were filed September 1, 1891, with the principal office to be located in Glen Carbon. An article in the Edwardsville Intelligencer, December 18, 1894 states:, The St. Louis Press Brick Company is the largest brick plant in Madison County and produces a superior article. It is equipped for the manufacture of house and ornamental as well as paving brick. , The company earned a reputation as manufacturing the finest brick to be found. In 1902, bricks were shipped from Glen Carbon brickyard for constructing the foundation of the Palace of Fine Art. This was the only building built as a permanent structure for the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, now known as the St. Louis Art Museum. , The brick company was a large operation and at one time had twelve baking kilns in operation. Steam-powered equipment was used to operate the fans, presses and other machinery needed to manufacture the bricks. Water for the boilers, and mixing of the clay was brought from a pond northeast of the plant across Glen Crossing Road. The water moved by gravity through pipes down into the valley and into a holding basin where steam powered pumps directed the water to areas of operation. Many years later the pond was used by village youth as a swimming and fishing hole. , There was a devastating fire in 1906 from which the company did not recover. The company closed. Many brickyard employees were then forced to find work in the village coal mines., The Glen Carbon Heritage Museum has a fine exhibit of the decorative bricks manufactured at the St. Louis Press Brick Co.