This is a compilation of past and present brickmakers in Washington. Brickmakers are listed under the county of
their manufacturing plant location. The brick must be available for study in order to be included in this list. Historically,
there were 746 known brickmakers in Washington, based on Karl Gurcke's compilation. I am in the
process of identifying and documenting the survived bricks that can be traced to the makers. This work, as far as I know,
has not been done for Washington bricks, which is the reason so little is known about them as historic artifacts.
The purpose here is to provide an informational guide to help historical archaeologists identify unknown bricks
and point to possible brickmakers. Once identified, bricks can be useful for describing the nature of the structure
and dating the building site. Bricks found at archaeological or historical sites will commonly be unmarked and
provide only a physical description of the brick, such as its color, texture, materials, size, shape, and manufacturing process.
By comparing these characteristics with those of known bricks, it is possible to identify the brickmaker.
The information is presented by counties because most bricks are not transported over long distances from their manufacturing
sites due to high transportation costs. Therefore a common rule is that most bricks will be found within the county or
adjacent counties of the originating brickyard, unless stated otherwise in the descriptions. When using this guide for identifying
unknown bricks, keep in mind that for each area only a small percentage of the total number of brickmakers is represented here
and unless you have an exact match, the maker of your brick may remain unknown. As this is a work-in-progress, the information
presented here is not final and may change with further research. I welcome additional information or brick samples.
For each brickmaker, I provide a brief history, with pictures and description of the brick. The unlinked brickmakers
in the list are currently being researched and will appear in the near future. - Dan L. Mosier
