| General Information |
| The OES visited the old Nelsonville Brick Plant
on April 6, 2002. While on the way to the Moonville Tunnel we discovered this
brick plant just past Nelsonville's police station. Until the first
commercial brick plant in Nelsonville was built, bricks were usually made on the
construction site for specific homes or buildings as needed. The first brick
plant in Nelsonville was built in 1877. The brick plant we visited was built as
an expansion to this plant in 1880. These structures were down-draft kilns meaning the air
would heat up, go up to the ceiling, and then sucked through a hole
in the floor and out the smokestack. Nelsonville Block made bricks for sidewalks,
roads, buildings, and water / sewer systems in the Hocking Valley area. During
the Industrial Revolution, demand for bricks were high, and at one time, over
120 men were employed at Nelsonville's five brick plants. The bricks at this
particular plant gained world-wide recognition in 1904 when the paving brick
"Nelsonville Block" won 1st prize at the World's Fair in St. Louis. Around the
time of World War One, concrete and asphalt slowly began replacing the demand
for brick and by 1940, the Nelsonville Brick Plant's kilns made bricks no more.
In 1979, in an effort to preserve the kilns, Nelsonville Park was founded and
the old kilns restored. Nelsonville Block can still be spotted in older
neighborhoods as well as new developments (such as Easton Towne
Center) in Central Ohio today.
UPDATE: When passing the Nelsonville Brick Plant in 2006, it was discovered that one of the brick kilns had collapsed. We have since learned that a large tree had fallen on the kiln, damaging it. Workers have cleaned up the fallen bricks and are planning on repairing the kiln. |
| Location Information: Public Park |
| The Nelsonville Brick Plant sits in Nelsonville Park on State Route 278 in Nelsonville, Athens County. |
| Photographs |
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