Thurber Brick Plant
By Mary Adams
Colonel Robert Dickie Hunter, president of the Texas Pacific Coal Company, and associates from St. Louis believed that opening a brick plant would expand the Company’s economic power. After countless negotiations and investments, the Green and Hunter Brick Company opened in Jun 1987, and by November, brickmakers produced 30,000 bricks a day. The bricks were partially used to build infrastructure around the mines and buildings in the downtown area, including the smokestack for the electrical plant, which still stands today as a monument to the town. However, the goal of the brick plant was to make money. Therefore, the bricks were marketed to businesses across the state, and reviews were good. 1901 Thurber bricks were chosen to build an epileptic asylum in Abilene. The architect to the project reported that the ”brick is said to be of the best quality made anywhere in the South.”
In 1898, Hunter purchased new machinery to begin making vitrified paving bricks and building bricks. By 1911, the Company had manufactured only pavers due to decreased demand from builders. The Thurber Brick Company saw a boom in production through the 1920s as cities like Dallas and Ft. Worth bought millions of pavers. In 1904, Austin decided that it was time to start paving streets. A representative of Thurber Brick Company was invited to Austin to discuss the use of vitrified brick. He was persuasive, as a brick from Thurber was chosen as the first product to pave Congress Avenue and other roads in the State Capital.
Smaller towns like Ranger and Eastland, newly rich from skyrocketing oil prices, celebrated their new wealth by paving their dirt streets. Often, whole communities pay for new brick streets through liens or municipal paving certificates. In Stephenville, city officials used new lies to obligate property owners to pay for the street paving in front of their property.
The brick plant workers unionized in 1903, forming the Brickmakers Union Local Number 153, affiliating themselves with the American Federation of Labor. Union members tamped Thurber bricks with the triangle union mark before sending their handiwork across the state. The union, later re-named the Brick, Tile, and Terra Cotta Workers local, represented brickyard workers until Thurber became open shop in 1921.
The 1929 Stock Market Crash signaled the end of Thurber’s Brick era. Demand for expensive brick paving fell as cities opted for cheaper asphalt. Company officials permanently closed the brick plant in 1931. Today, brick streets across Texas remain a silent testament to Thurber’s reign as one of the most popular brick plants in the state.
