HILTON BRICK COMPANY (site)
About 1905, T. P. Brown, son-in-law of L.W. Ridenhour, opened a tile and flower pot factory on the banks of the Russian River at Hilton, where a 70-foot bank of clay was found on 46 acres of land. in 1895 he produced 100,000 tiles. Additionally a brick yard was operated by the Hilton Brick Company, which sold bricks locally. They were producing a million bricks a year in 1895. The big earthquake in 1906 increased interest in brick manufacturing. By 1909, the Pureclay Brick and Tile Company was formed to operate the plant. They set up a distributing office at 103 Main Street in San Francisco. O. J. Crossfield was president, E. Aigeltinger was vice-president, and F. Wagner was the general manager. C. W. Randall, formerly with Bonner & Marshall Company, Chicago, Illinois, was in charge of the sales and distributing yard at North Point and Taylor streets in San Francisco.
The large plant at Hilton was managed by E. T. Maples, formerly with the California Pottery in Antioch, California. The plant had a 20-compartment continuous-burning kiln, with a capacity of 30,000 bricks per day. In 1909, $30,000 ($770,000 in 2018) was spent by the company to upgrade the plant, which manufactured common and pressed bricks. The pressed brick was not machine-pressed, but said to be as good as high quality machine-pressed face brick. A branch of the Northwestern Pacific railroad was used to ship the bricks to distant markets.
Pureclay bricks were used to face the U. S. Post Office at Santa Rosa, the side walls of the Masonic Temple in Sonoma, and many other buildings. The plant operated until 1912, when it was closed. The company was listed as late as 1913 with J. H. Stack as the manager at the San Francisco office. In 1916, the brick property was sold to the Thompson Brick Company.
The large plant at Hilton was managed by E. T. Maples, formerly with the California Pottery in Antioch, California. The plant had a 20-compartment continuous-burning kiln, with a capacity of 30,000 bricks per day. In 1909, $30,000 ($770,000 in 2018) was spent by the company to upgrade the plant, which manufactured common and pressed bricks. The pressed brick was not machine-pressed, but said to be as good as high quality machine-pressed face brick. A branch of the Northwestern Pacific railroad was used to ship the bricks to distant markets.
Pureclay bricks were used to face the U. S. Post Office at Santa Rosa, the side walls of the Masonic Temple in Sonoma, and many other buildings. The plant operated until 1912, when it was closed. The company was listed as late as 1913 with J. H. Stack as the manager at the San Francisco office. In 1916, the brick property was sold to the Thompson Brick Company.
Hilton Brick Factory at its largest operation in 1915.
The San Francisco earthquake created a great demand for bricks.
The Hilton Hotel, 1905, with the brick factory in the rear.