Information on Clay Mining and Brick Production in St. Louis

Scott K. Williams, collector of vast quantities of historical information about St. Louis on his "History's Time Portal to Old St. Louis", devotes a page to clay (and coal) mining and brick production (with some photos of bricks) that occurred in St. Louis between the Civil War and the 1st World War, here:

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/underground_stl.htm

The list was compiled from a map by Mimi Garstand, and published in 1987 by the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Land Survey, Rolla, MO.

After you get to this page, and if you want to learn more, much more, about St. Louis, remove "underground" from the address and click again to reach Mr. Williams' top page, opening  the door to an amazing collection of photos, post cards and records, and including the music and words to "Under the Anheuser Bush".

bricks, clay mine, Missouri, Scott K. Williams, St. Louis,

Tableau

Color! tiles

The last two are on private homes in The Hill neighborhood.

Colorful tile designs

 

All of these features are on schools in St. Louis except the last, which is on a church.

Combinations of brick, stone, tile and terracotta

Brick and stone adornments

On The Hill in St. Louis is a collection of small and tidy homes.  Most are of one of two basic shapes:  the "shotgun", long and narrow, and one story, to fit a narrow lot; or square-ish, possibly with a room or two above.  Most are unique.  Occasionally a builder constructed more than one, side by side, as these obviously were.

Though they look identical, these septuplets have interesting variations in brick color combinations, brick and stone adornments over doors and windows, and more recent awnings.

Every peak window has a different decorative arch, and several of the houses have small and subtile decorative brick designs over the doors and right-hand windows.

The Hill is an extremely intact ethnic neighborhood of 50-60 blocks built by Italian immigrants, many of whom walked to work in the clay mines adjacent to the neighborhood.

Gargoyle

A true gargoyle is a creature with a rain spout.