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Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
bwalsh
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: July 18, 2013 10:46PM
I'm not sure exactly which forum this would belong in, but here goes. I was just out in my yard and picked up a brick that has been there probably since the house the was built in 1955. I've moved this brick and others in the yard hundreds of times, encircling plant beds, etc. Today, I turned it over and because it was wet, noticed a name on it - Coffeyville. I did a little research and apparently, Coffeyville KS produced bricks, especially pavers, from the 1890s to 1930. So therein lies my question. Where would a single paver brick like that come from and how would it wind up in my yard on the southwest side of Chicago in an area that was mostly swampy until the homes were built in the mid 1950s? Most of the other bricks in the yard are an assortment of Chicago style house bricks and a few facing bricks. Kind of an odd mix. I will have to go out there and take a look at some of the others now! Why I've never noticed is a mystery also.
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
bwalsh
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: July 30, 2013 11:38PM
Okay, not that anybody had anything to add to this.
So I will.
I spoke with my cousin, who actually lived with my parents when they first moved into our house, and she just remembered the bricks as ones that were left after the houses were first built. However, she said my dad MAY have brought some home from work with him. I never thought of that. Seeing as he worked for the Chicago Public Schools as a janitor, then a fireman, he probably had plenty of chances to come across some old bricks at some of the schools he worked at. Plus, he worked for a short while at the Water Filtration Plant (79th st) over the summers. So, bottom line, I guess they could have come from anywhere since Coffeyville bricks were pretty commonly used as pavers or cobblestones in many places over the years.
At any rate, I will keep my brick displayed in a prominent place in the yard.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2013 11:40PM by bwalsh.
So I will.
I spoke with my cousin, who actually lived with my parents when they first moved into our house, and she just remembered the bricks as ones that were left after the houses were first built. However, she said my dad MAY have brought some home from work with him. I never thought of that. Seeing as he worked for the Chicago Public Schools as a janitor, then a fireman, he probably had plenty of chances to come across some old bricks at some of the schools he worked at. Plus, he worked for a short while at the Water Filtration Plant (79th st) over the summers. So, bottom line, I guess they could have come from anywhere since Coffeyville bricks were pretty commonly used as pavers or cobblestones in many places over the years.
At any rate, I will keep my brick displayed in a prominent place in the yard.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2013 11:40PM by bwalsh.
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
nordsider
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: July 31, 2013 09:23AM
I wonder why the paving bricks from Coffeyville Kansas are found in Chicago; when according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, the city seemed have had a monopoly on brick making:
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1031.html
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1031.html
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
bwalsh
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 01, 2013 04:03AM
Apparently, from what I've read on the various sites about Coffeyville, their bricks were produced in large numbers and were used throughout the Midwest. Now I'm going to have start paying more attention to bricks when I see them.
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
PKDickman
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 01, 2013 08:19PM
nordsider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder why the paving bricks from Coffeyville
> Kansas are found in Chicago; when according to the
> Encyclopedia of Chicago, the city seemed have had
> a monopoly on brick making:
>
> http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1
> 031.html
You need a special kind of clay or shale to produce a good paving brick.
It has to be hard and dense and non-absorbent.
I don't think we have much of this kind of clay around here.
We cranked out a lot of common brick, though.
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder why the paving bricks from Coffeyville
> Kansas are found in Chicago; when according to the
> Encyclopedia of Chicago, the city seemed have had
> a monopoly on brick making:
>
> http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1
> 031.html
You need a special kind of clay or shale to produce a good paving brick.
It has to be hard and dense and non-absorbent.
I don't think we have much of this kind of clay around here.
We cranked out a lot of common brick, though.
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
Sit and Stew
(---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 02, 2013 03:02AM
If you are looking for old Chicago pavers, a lot of them end up at a brickyard on Cicero Avenue just a few blocks north of Roosevelt Rd just south of 5th. They also get a lot of demolition bricks from the area including those dark purple clinkers from the early to mid 1910s. If you are looking for something in particular or some info this might be a good place to check, FYI. I know that a lot of Garfield Park and North Lawndale knockdowns send their bricks there. I got a few circa 1905 in my backyard from that yard....
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
bwalsh
(---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: August 03, 2013 11:02PM
That's interesting. I was under the impression that all demos anymore had to recycle the materials. Or maybe that's just been the choice of many lately?
I think you could be right about the pavers. I actually went through a little town in Indiana a couple of years ago where they made paving bricks. A friend of my cousin (who was with us) had lived there for a short while as a small child, so we stopped to look around. I had never heard of it before, but that made me a bit more attuned to the names on the bricks around me. This was Veedersburg, IN. I suppose it also could have something to do with certain colors if it was a private construction project as opposed to a city street.
More to research now!
I think you could be right about the pavers. I actually went through a little town in Indiana a couple of years ago where they made paving bricks. A friend of my cousin (who was with us) had lived there for a short while as a small child, so we stopped to look around. I had never heard of it before, but that made me a bit more attuned to the names on the bricks around me. This was Veedersburg, IN. I suppose it also could have something to do with certain colors if it was a private construction project as opposed to a city street.
More to research now!
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
harryc
(---.abanet.org)
Date: September 05, 2013 05:38PM
One day my kids - or grandkids may ask the same question - how did old granite pavers wind up in a backyard in Oak Park ?
Answer - I picked up a few when the city took up the sidewalk on Kinzie back in 2005 (?).
Answer - I picked up a few when the city took up the sidewalk on Kinzie back in 2005 (?).
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
Richard Stachowski
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: September 06, 2013 11:36PM
[b]pooiu[/b]
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
Sit and Stew
(---.dsl.emhril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: September 07, 2013 08:44PM
For those interested, the outfit is called Windy City Antique Brick Salvage. Their main office is at Division and Kostner, their refining/cleaning and processing yard is at around 1000 S. Cicero in Chicago across from the old Alden warehouse. They have pavers but a lot of those go elsewhere and the company that specialises in them slips my mind.
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
WayOutWardell
(---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: September 08, 2013 01:25PM
Here's a link to an interesting interview with some of the former workers at the Poston Brick Company in Springfield, the company that made a lot of the paving bricks:
[url=http://library.uis.edu/archives/collections/oral/pdf/POSTONBRICK.pdf]Poston Brick Company History[/url]
[url=http://library.uis.edu/archives/collections/oral/pdf/POSTONBRICK.pdf]Poston Brick Company History[/url]
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
lokenjire
(---.ntc.net.np)
Date: March 13, 2014 06:22AM
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Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
JimboS
(---.chi.clearwire-wmx.net)
Date: March 28, 2014 09:20PM
I know that when Daily was mayor and they put the dividers/planters on Ashland and Madison and other streets they tore out tons of granite and clay pavers. The purplish blocks I have were Metropoliton Block from Canton Ohio. I don't know how Chicago disposed of them, but I do know Minneapolis had a yard run by the city by the river where residents could pick them up for a nominal fee. Maybe you have to have clout to get them in CHicago!
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
henry714
(---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: July 12, 2014 06:50PM
There is also a business in the Chicago Stockyards that reclaims and sells old Chicago common brick, red clay pavers and granite cobblestones from the street. My sister bought some material for her patio and driveway and was happy.
www.stockyardsbrick.com
www.stockyardsbrick.com
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
justacruzr2
(---.260.popsite.net)
Date: August 22, 2014 02:06PM
While I was driving downtown on the near south side several years ago, I came across a section of the street that was about to be re-paved. That machine they use to scrape off the top layer had already been there and exposed what was hidden beneath...the original brick-paved street and the original street car tracks. They never removed any of that when they first re-surfaced the street after asphalt came into use. They simply paved over it. Wonder how much history is buried under the streets.
Re: Old Paving Bricks
Posted by:
Dunning1
(216.81.94.---)
Date: August 22, 2014 03:59PM
I remember we had a bunch of Veederberg Pavers that were liberated from my grandmother's neighborhood around Armitage and Kostner that were used for borders for the flower beds in the back yard for years.
