The Maysville Brick Company was located on the south bank of the Ohio River in Mason Co., about three miles southeast of the courthouse in Maysville. The Maysville Daily Independent reported in 1935 that John H. Hall, Sallie S. Hall, A. C. Sphar, and Elizabeth D. Sphar had organized the brick company in July 1894. However, the Kentucky State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1879–1880 included a listing for A. C. Sphar and Company, suggesting that the brickyard may have started some years earlier (see Sphar Brick Company). A. C. Sphar served as the firm’s president, and John Hall was secretary and treasurer until his death in 1902. Initially, the company had $15,000 of capital stock. During the spring of 1912, Sphar sold the company to William H. Hall, son of John H. Hall, and G. J. Thomas, a son-in-law of John H. Hall, with Elizabeth Hall retaining one-half interest in the company. William Hall became president and general manager; Thomas served as secretary and treasurer. G. J. Thomas died in 1917, and another of William Hall’s brothers-in-law, Howard Curtis, became secretary and assistant manager. In 1919 the Maysville Brick Company increased its stock capital to $35,000. By 1929 thriving brickyard employed 40 men. Following the expiration of the original corporation, the company was incorporated again under the same name in 1947. Esther Curtis, Howard Curtis, Elizabeth
Wells Hall, and Adella T. Wade owned this second corporation. The company completed its history under the leadership of Howard Curtis and his son Houston Curtis, ceasing operations sometime between 1955 and 1957.
The local Sanborn Insurance maps provide some insights into the Maysville Brick Company. In 1895 the company had four brick clamps, drying racks, a clay pit, and two structures housing the clay-mixing equipment and the engine room. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad transported the bricks produced by the company. By 1908 changes to the property included a fifth brick kiln, new drying racks, a brick machine, and an 80-horsepower engine. By 1914 a small building and a water tank had been added on the property.
Initially, the company used a Henry Martin Wooden Brick machine, which produced about 25,000 bricks per day. By 1907 brick production was increased to 40,000 bricks per day by utilizing new equipment, and in 1917, 45,000 bricks were being made each day. Sometime after 1922, a stiff mud brick machine was installed at the yard. By 1935 the cherry red bricks produced by the Maysville Brick Company were sold in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
Two published historic photographs of the brickyard and its facilities provide a glimpse of the company during the 1920s and 1930s. The Kentucky Geological Survey first published a view of the brickyard in 1922, showing two of the up draft kilns, railroad cars, and structures next to the Ohio River in the background. The Daily Independent published another photograph in 1935 that reveals the addition of an office, a barn, and miscellaneous structures. In 1994 the surviving ruins included a standing kiln, remnants of three other kilns, the brickyard office, a barn, the clay pit, and an old steam shovel. The company produced the Maysville
brand of bricks made by the soft-mud method (made in a mold). The last bricks produced at the yard were unmarked three-hole stiff-mud bricks (made from a column of stiff clay that was cut into bricks by wire).
The Maysville Brick Company was a major industry in Mason Co. and played an important role in supplying bricks to the building trades regionally. Although the company closed a half century ago, many of its bricks undoubtedly survive in historic structures that are still standing.
Hockensmith, Charles D., and M. Jay Stottman, “Investigations at the Maysville Brick Company: An Example of Industrial Archaeology in Kentucky,” Ohio Valley Historical Archaeology 12 (1997):89–111.
Ries, Heinrich. The Clay Deposits of Kentucky: An Economic Consideration of the Pottery, Brick, and Tile Clays, Fire Clays, and Shales of Kentucky, with Notes on their Industrial Development. Series 6, vol. 2. Frankfort, Ky: Kentucky Geological Survey, 1922.
The Spirit of Greater Maysville and Mason County. Maysville, Ky: Daily Independent, 1935.
Charles D. Hockensmith
SPHAR BRICK COMPANY. The Sphar Brick Company, located about two miles from Maysville, near the Ohio River in Mason Co., was established by A. C. Sphar, who also started the Maysville Brick Company. The Maysville Daily Independent reported in 1935 that the company was organized in 1904. However, according to other sources, it may have begun as early as 1878. At least during 1906–1908, the Sphar Brick Company and the Maysville Brick Company were operating at the same time.
The Sphar Brick Company was incorporated in July 1912 by A.S. Clark, H.T. Miles, E. A. Robinson, A. C. Sphar, E. S. Sphar, and W. N. Stockton. Sphar and his wife, who together owned 387 of the 500 shares, controlled the company. The capital stock of the corporation was $50,000, divided into shares valued at $100 each. A. C. Sphar was president and H. T. Miles was secretary and
treasurer. After Sphar died in 1920, A. S. Clark and H. T. Miles assumed ownership of the company.
In 1908 the company had five rectangular brick kilns, a drying shed, two sorting sheds, a structure for storingbricks and hay, a corn crib, an oil house, a polishing house, an office, a brick machine with an 85-horsepower engine, and a water tank. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad provided transportation for the brickyard. By 1914, additions to the property included two large brick kilns and a second drying shed, and by 1926 a small hot air drying shed and a new brick machine had been added.
By 1922 the Sphar Brick Company had a large and well-equipped modern brickyard. Heinrich Ries described Sphar’s operation as follows: “Clay was excavated with a steam shovel, loaded into dump cars, and hauled to sheds. A brick machine was used to produce 30,000 to 45,000 pressed bricks per day. Tunnel dryers were employed to dry the bricks prior to firing. Seven rectangular kilns, including five downdraft and two up-draft kilns, were used to fire the bricks.” The company later produced a wire-cut “Face Building Brick” in smooth and rough textures. Ries noted that the bricks were a good red color, usually a deep or dark red; textured bricks were fired to different shades of red. Sphar bricks were sold in Kentucky and other states, almost exclusively through dealers.
The company used the Sphar brand name on its bricks. The Sphar Brick Company’s corporate status expired on July 15, 1937. In December 1955, a new corporation with the same name was incorporated by F. H. Peters and Mrs. M. R. Peters of Dayton, Ohio, with 15,000 shares of stock without par value. F. H. Peters was president; the company employed 35 men in 1955–1956, had 40 employees in 1957–1958, and had 35 employees in 1959–1960.
The company closed sometime between 1959 and 1961.
Kentucky Death Certificate No. 23181, for the year 1920.
Ries, Heinrich. The Clay Deposits of Kentucky: An Economic Consideration of the Pottery, Brick, and Tile Clays, Fire Clays, and Shales of Kentucky, with Notes on their Industrial Development. Series 6, vol. 2. Frankfort. Kentucky Geological Survey, 1922.
The Spirit of Greater Maysville & Mason County Maysville, Ky: Daily Independent, 1935.
Charles D. Hockensmith
Above excerpted from page 849 of THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NORTHERN KENTUCKY THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY ISBN 978-0-8131-2565-7