WASHINGTON BRICKS

Denny Clay Company, Taylor

History

Advertisement from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1900.

In 1889, the business district of Seattle, Washington, burned to the ground and the city leaders called for the rebuilding with fireproof materials. That year, Arthur Denny, a founder of Seattle, incorporated the Denny Clay Company. The company office was located at 4th Avenue South and Weller Street in Seattle. In 1891, the company opened the Sherwood (Taylor) mine to extract high grade shale that was in the Eocene coal strata of the Puget Group. One source said that a brick plant was built in 1892 at Taylor, King County, Washington, however, commercial clay products were not manufactured at Taylor until 1903. Up to 1903, clay was mined at Taylor and shipped to the company's plant at Van Asselt, about four miles south of Seattle. In 1893, Denny Clay Company acquired the Puget Sound Fire Clay Company, which had made firebrick and press brick for Seattle since 1890 under the management of George W. Kummer. Kummer became the general manager of the Denny Clay Company operations.

Several clays were found at Taylor with colors of yellow, purple, buff, and white. These clays were good for making pressed face brick and sewer pipe. A flint clay also found here was good for making firebrick. The fire clay was reported in December 1892 to be 20 feet thick and on the mountainside 250 feet above the floor of the valley.

No description of the Denny clay plant was found. From the surviving brick, it can be seen that the shale was crushed to a fine powder and tempered in a pug mill. From the pug mill, the mixture was sent to the brick press to be made into paving brick. Then it was dried and fired in a coal-burning kiln, of which there were two large down-draft type of 100,000 brick capacity. Starting in 1903, this plant produced paving brick, pressed face brick, firebrick, drain pipe, and sewer pipe and had supplied mainly the Tacoma and Seattle area.

Denny Clay Company advertised "Handmade" bricks. Denny's paving brick were vitrified pressed brick. An advertisement mentioned that the company made firebrick in special shapes, square, and side and end wedges. Fire clay was also sold for mortar. Face bricks of various colors were made by the dry press process. The company had opened a sales yard at First Avenue and Jackson in Seattle, and in March 1900, the sales yard was moved to the Maynard addition of Seattle.

Advertisement from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1895.

In 1889, Denny bricks, made at its Van Asselt plant using Taylor clay, were sent to the Denny Hotel, owned by Arthur Denny, at Virginia Street and Fourth Avenue in Seattle. In November 1894, 2,000 firebrick were shipped to the Tacoma smelter. In November 1897, Spokane purchased 5 million paving bricks to pave three blocks of city street as a test. By 1902, the city of Seattle had paved one-fifth of a mile of streets with these paving bricks, the rest was paved in asphalt. The asphalt paved streets were lined with paving gutter bricks. In 1901, 60 blocks in Seattle were lined with Seattle paving gutter brick, namely on Ninth Avenue, Terry Avenue, Madison Street, Terrace Street, Cherry Street, Jefferson Street, and James Street. In 1898, cream pressed brick was supplied to the Sunset Telephone Company building erected on Second Avenue in Seattle. Paving brick was laid on James Street in Seattle. In 1899, 100,000 vitrified acid brick were shipped via the California Powder Company to a nitroglycerin factory near Cape Town, South Africa. In 1900, firebricks for an assay outfit were shipped to Peking, China. In 1904, paving bricks, made at the Taylor plant, were laid on Pacific Avenue in Seattle. Dry press face brick were used in the McElroy Block and the Collins Block at Second Avenue and James Street in Seattle. Repressed brick were used at the Union Trust Company's block at the corner of Main and Third Avenue in Seattle.

In May 1905, the Denny Clay Company was sold to the Renton Clay Company for $300,000. This merger resulted in the formation of the Denny-Renton Clay & Coal Company of Seattle, Washington, with a capital stock of $1,000,000. Officers of the company were Moritz Thomsen, James R. Miller, E. J. Mathews, Peter Larson, and T. L. Greenough. The plant at Taylor was rebuilt by the new company to manufacture mainly sewer pipe.

Founder Arthur Denny became a prominent citizen of Seattle where his occupation was a banker. He was born at Salem, Indiana in 1822. He married Mary Boren in 1843. They raised six children. One of their sons, Orion O. Denny, was an officer in the Denny Clay Company. In 1851, Denny arrived and settled with a brother at Alki Point, Seattle, Washington. In 1889, less than three months before the great Seattle fire, Denny began the construction of the huge Denny Hotel on Capitol Hill, which soon became known as Denny Hill. The hotel, built of bricks from his brickyard, was never completed and eventually was demolished by 1906. Arthur Denny passed away in 1899 at the age of 77 years.

Denny Clay Company Brick

Denny Paving Brick

The Denny paving brick is red and uniform in color. Form is very good with straight edges and smooth surfaces. The longer and shorter edges are rounded. The middle length edges are sharp. Repressed lines are present along the longer edges. Cracks may be present on the sides and edges. The marked face displays the company abbreviations of "D.C.Co." in recessed block letters. Periods are square shaped. Interior clay body is vitrified. This brick was made using the soft-mud process in a brick press. No dimensions are available.

View of the marked face of the D.C.Co. paving brick. Photo courtesy of JoAnne Matsumura.

Denny Refractory Block

The Denny refractory block is buff. Form is very good with straight edges and smooth surfaces. The edges and corners are dull. Surface displays tiny white and yellow clay averaging 1/16 inch in diameter, but may be as much as 1/8 inch in diameter. The marked face displays the company name of "DENNY CLAY CO." in recessed block letters that span 5 1/4 inches and stand 1/2 inch. Period is square shaped. Faint longitudinal striations are present on the large faces. Interior clay body is a fine compact alumina containing 3 percent subrounded white and yellow clay, less than 1/8 inch in diameter. This block was made using the soft-mud process in a brick press. The length of the block in the example below is not complete. Length >15, width 10 1/4, height 3 3/4 inches.

$Marked face of the Denny Clay Co. refractory block$
View of the marked face of the Denny Clay Company refractory block. Courtesy of George L. Kennedy.

$View of the side of the Denny Clay Co. refractory block$
View of the side of the Denny Clay Company refractory block.

$View of the unmarked face of the Denny Clay Co. refractory block$
View of the unmarked face of the Denny Clay Company refractory block.

$Close-up view of the surface of the Denny Clay Co. refractory block$
Close-up view of the surface of the Denny Clay Company refractory block.

References

WASHINGTON BRICKS

Denny Clay Company, Taylor

History

Denny Clay Company Brick

Denny Paving Brick

Denny Refractory Block

References

Contact Dan Mosier at danmosier@earthlink.net.