The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-08-16
PAVING BRICK.
A Big Industry for the State Is
Described.
The First Manufacturing Firm
Started in AtchisOn.
SEVENTY-FIVE PLANTS.
Vitrifed Placements Came to
Kansas by Chance.
Output for One Year Valued at
About S7,OOO,O0O.
SEVENTY-FIVE PLANTS.

Atchison. kan. Aug. 1e.-The vitri-
fed brick pavement, which fast is COW
ering the streets of Kansas towns ana
even invading the statutory county
highways came to the state less than
twenty years ago. All the larger towns
of the state where shale abounds now
have brick plants, and in the natural
gas district the earth fairly IS burning
up with them.
The vitrifed brick pavement came 10
Kansas. by chance with the famous real
estate boom. which spread over the
west in 1887, and which especially was
disastrous to values in Kansas Really
It was about the only good the boom
brought It came from Wheeling, W.
Va, and first found Judgment at Atchl-
son. The town had been seized by the
NbOom, as had other ambitious western
towns, and to retrieve his fallen Tor
tunes came J. c. Anderson OF Wheelng-
In his younger days he had lYeu IN
AtchisOn, and when he heard or the
boom in the old town, he led a party OF
West Virginia capitalists h1ther
The city fathers were considering
materials for street pavement, and Mr.
Anderson told them Of the brick Whlch
covered the streets of Wheeling. They
laughed. Brick, indeed! Brick for the
hard traffic of a public street. Ihey
never had heard of the hard vitrlhed
brick. The only brick Of their expert
ence was the ordinary clay building
brick that would crumble beneath the
weight of a wagon, and 50, to their
minds. the suggestion of brick pave
ment for streets was ridiculous
But finally they were convinced. MI
Anderson sent to Wheeling for some
specimens Of vftrified brick, and placed
them on exhibition. He also sent to
Galesburg, III, the nearest city where
vitrified brick were manufactured at
t.iat time, for some specimens. These
were tested, and the end Of it was that
property owners consented to try brick
in two blocks of a street upon which
the traffic was heavy. For this con-
tract the brick was brought from
Galesburg, and the man who went to
make the purchase brought back some
of the shale. which, by comparison,
seemed to be identical with the soap
stone" which abounded in the hills Of
Atchison.
The local agent of the Atchison, To-
peka & Santa Fe railway sent guam
THY of the Atchison shale to the chief
engineer Of the company, with a brief
statement of the brick pavement ex-
pertinent The chief engineer sent this
through kiln fire. and proved to be
vitreOus clay. When this report reach /
ed Atchison. Mr.. Anderson sent some OF
the clay to Wheeling, to be burnt, and !
c. W. Benning and Thomas Beattie
sent some to Keokuk, Iowa and to
Galesburg, for the same test. Other
tests were made, and all verified the
report sent from St. Louis to the chief
engineer of the Santa Fe. In the
meantime this official had been eX-
aiming the shale deposits elsewhere
along his lire. and he discovered that
all over the eastern One-thlrd Of the
state they were exactly like the Atchi-
son shale. Here was something big
for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.
The railway was out for freight traffic,
and brick would make freight 1t was
not in his department. but he reported
the incident to W. F. White, the gen
eral traffic manager who took up the
work Mr.. White formerly had lived
In Atchison. and he came here in per-
son to help the brick movement along.
Thus encouraged, local capital es-
tablished adjacent to the city a brick
plant, which soon began to pave the
town. That was 10 years ago. The
original plant has changed hands
time or two, but it has kept pace with
the advancement of the brick industry,
and today. in the hands of John H.
Barry. it is one Of the largest in the
state and its owner one Of the towns
wealthiest citizens. Macadam, cedar
and bois d arc, with which the streets
formerly we're paved. have been torn
out. and now only brick is used
Encouraged by the success of the
Atchison experiment and by the inter-
est taken IN # by the Atchison. To-
peka & Santa Fe, Robert Nesch. a
citizen Of Atchison. went to Pittsburg,
on the line of the Santa Fe, and estab-
lished a plant. About the same time
Mr.. White pointed out to local capital
the opportunity the shale of Topeka
offered for fortune. Next, Leaven-
was persuaded by the same influence;
then Lawrence, and so on until now
there are no less than 70 plants operat-
ing in the state. They pave at home
and abroad. and wherever Kansas brick
are laid they are turned face IN, en-
blazoning the name and fame of the
state
The first vitrihed brick was burnt
with natural gas in Kansas at Corey
Vile in 1890 This was a new field for
the industry. The brick were perhaps
no better, but the fuel was CHEAPER and
ALWAYS on tap, and so. when the COT
feyville experiment proved to be sue
cessful. the Industrial commissioner of
the Santa Fe began to establish. or
rather to cause to be established
plants elsewhere in the gas district
Everywhere they were successful. and
9=,77-s