website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
O. E. Carlson
Brick Manufacturer
1848 NOTE ON BRICK MAKING AND BUILDING
Our Village – It is gratifying
and speaks well for the preserving industry and enterprise of our citizens, to
see the extensive preparations that are being made to “go ahead” in almost
every department of improvement, in every quarter of our village. Lumber and brick – don’t start Milwaukee!
We have got real bona fide
Watertown brick, just as good as – It’s a fact.
True, we have not built up a “Queen City” here yet, but if the
manufacture of brick can elevate a place to majesty (which of course you will
not deny). Watertown is already a
princess royal.
Lumber and brick, we say [see],
are piled high upon a great many hitherto vacant lots, and a number of active
laborers are at work, “digging into the bowels of the earth,” not in search of
“villainous salt-peter,” but for the peaceful purpose of excavating cellars.
The number of buildings which
will be erected during the current year will be greater than during any former
two or three years; and many of them will add much to the appearance of our
village. Among them will be the steam grist mill of Messrs Cole and Bailey, which
has already ‘broke ground,’ and is advancing on the most modern and approved
“progressive principles.”
- Rock River Pilot, 03 29 1848
1864
04 07 PILES OF BRICK LYING
ABOUT
Building – Judging from the piles of brick lying
around in different parts of the city, considerable building will be carried on
here during the present season, notwithstanding the high price of wages, lumber
and materials generally. Dwelling houses
are in great demand. In fact, we do not
know of an unoccupied tenement of any kind within the limits of the corporation
[city]. Though the war has taken away
many of our citizens our population is as large as ever and is undoubtedly
increasing. WD
1866
BRICK PRODUCTION
In 1866 two Watertown brickyards employed 109 mainly seasonal workers,
more than any other industry except the St. Paul Railroad. They produced ten million bricks each year
and exported seven million. Visible
reminders of this once thriving industry are the downtown brick buildings, the
hundreds of brick houses scattered throughout the city and the two little
lakes near the south end of Third Street.
They were once filled with the clay used in making bricks. Mr. O. E. Carlson operated the last brickyard
in Watertown between 1925 and 1935, with an annual production of three million
bricks. The use of cement blocks in the
construction industry made such inroads into the brick business that Wisconsin,
which once had 30 brickyards, now has only one at Oakfield, near Fond du Lac.
Kiessling,
Elmer C., Watertown Remembered
(Watertown: Watertown Historical Society), 1976, p 177.
1866 OLD SWIMMING HOLE CALLED LAKE OSCALO
The old
swimming hole called Lake Oscalo. Back
in 1866, when the old brick yard was digging clay to make bricks, the pit
filled up with sparkling spring water from the many springs. This water furnished a wonderful swimming hole for many old timers who
will remember the happy days at the old clay quarry in the seventh ward. In 1936 Mr. and Mrs. Oscar E. Carlson
purchased the brick yard property and made this portion of their land a beauty
spot for many of their friends who enjoy swimming, fishing, and
picnicking.
Lake Oscalo was named
after Oscar and Loda Carlson and was registered with the State Conservation
Dept under that name. Today Lake
Victoria. Loda Carlson was a corsetiere.
1888
ADVERTISEMENT, Cordes & Co.
1889
Joseph Terbrueggan, W. J.
Toussaint and L. H. Cordes
established the Watertown
Electric Light plant; disposed of in 1906 to the John I. Beggs
interests.
1894
05 11 L. H. CORDES & Co.
began making brick at their brick yards in the 7th ward on Monday with a force
of 75 men. WG
01 30 WATERTOWN BRICK AND
LIMBURGER CHEESE
Our good friend, Charley Straw, has at length discovered that
"Watertown is on the map." He
is in receipt of a copy of The Trade
Bulletin from Fond du Lac, in which appears an advertisement listing
"Watertown Brick and Limburger Cheese." It is perhaps needless to say that Watertown
is famous for its cheese as well as geese.
c.1900
-- -- WATERTOWN BRICK YARD
1907
07 18 BRICK STREET OPPOSED
Three remonstrances were
presented to the council [at the last council meeting] from residents on Church
Street protesting against the proposed paving of that street with brick and
urging the use of macadam paving material.
They are opposed to brick for several reasons. First, because of the high grade of that
street; second, because brick is too noisy for a residence street; third,
because brick paving is too expensive and would prove a burden to the tax
payers. The communications were filed in
order that the parties may have an opportunity to be heard.
1912
05 23 KILLED IN RUNAWAY
Wm. Schroeder, 1201 Rockwell Street, teamster
for the McGolrick Fuel Co., was killed in a runaway accident this morning near
the 3d Street railway crossing. He was
hauling a load of brick with his team from the Cordes brickyard, and when near the 3rd Street crossing his team got
scared, ran away and threw him to the ground, the wagon passing over his head
and crushing it, causing death almost instantly. He leaves a wife and family. WG
1934
09 08 BRICK YARD SWIMMING POOL PROJECT IS BEING DEBATED
The proposal to have the city
purchase the 15-acre tract at the old brick yard, the pool of which has been
used for swimming over a long period of time, and convert it into a swimming
pool and general recreation grounds is being debated these days, ever since the
question was revived at the last meeting of the city council.
The council has taken the matter
under advisement and expects to act definitely on the offer made by the Koehler
family, owners of the property, when it meets on September 18. The offer, if it is not acted on now, will be
withdrawn.
The pool in question is two miles
from Main Street. In the last few days
scores of interested persons have visited the grounds to get a clearer picture
of it and to discover for themselves if the proposal should be considered. Every alderman and other city officials have
been instructed to visit the place in order to gain firsthand knowledge of the
site.
Opinion is divided on the
subject. Some contend the pool and
grounds is in too hidden an area and others assert it can be acquired now at a
price reported to be around $3,000 and that it can be developed at some future
time, if not now.
Others claim it would be an ideal
project to develop with government aid, being pointed out that some form of
public works program will be continued by the federal government as part of the
Roosevelt administration.
With such a project ready to be
carried out, Watertown could present it when the proper time comes and men
could be put to work on turning it into a natural pool and developing the
surrounding grounds, those who support the idea assert.
Spokesmen for Seventh ward
residents also point out that the ward, which has grown and developed more
quickly in recent years than any other section of the city, has no playground
for its children and that while other parts of the city have parks and
playgrounds the people there have been neglected in the matter of such
projects.
The council has
taken the matter over as a committee of the whole and will bring it up at the
next meeting.
1953
09 26 OLD BREWERY BRICKS USED FOR NEW CHURCH
150,000 Bricks Being Salvaged from Ruins of Hartig’s
Brewery
At least 150,000 bricks will be salvaged from the old Hartig brewery building which is now
being demolished to make room for a modern supermarket, it was announced today
by O. E. Carlson, local fuel and brick dealer at 1501 South Third Street. Mr. Carlson said that under ordinary
circumstances the salvage would run to around one million bricks, but because
of the process of demolishing the building, which is taking speed into
consideration, most of them will be useless.
Mr.
Carlson said the bricks are being hauled to his yards and will be cleaned
there. He said some of the bricks will
go into a new church at Palmyra.
The
bricks used in the brewery came originally from the same brick yard which Mr.
Carlson now occupies.
The bricks
used in the brewery are in good shape, some as good as any used today and some
even superior in quality to present day manufactured bricks.
Mr.
Carlson said that most of the bricks and rubble are being used to fill in the
old cellars which lined the site of the brewery and hence are of no use to
him. But he is taking as many of the
bricks as he can get and after they are sorted and cleaned he expects to have
about 150,000 for future use.
Some
of the walls in the brewery are four feet thick, Mr. Carlson jointed out.
Much
of the brewery is now down and the remaining walls will come down shortly, as
the work proceeds. Bulldozers and a
crane re being used in the process. The
50 foot chimney came down some time ago.
The
brewery site will be occupied by the supermarket which is to be operated by.
the National Tea Co. stores. The market
will be built by Bay Kern, local business man who acquired the property from
the Merchants National Bank of this
city some months ago. He has completed
arrangements with the food chain to occupy the market. In addition to the modern market, there will
also be room on the site for parking 100 cars.
1981
10 05 CARLSON COTTEGE REMOVED
The
old Carlson cottage on what is now Lake Victoria . . . the brickyard.
Assessor
note: 10 05 1981: Cottage town down. Now part of Lakeside Meadows.
2015
05 13 “THE BRICKYARD”
Lake Victoria and
Heiden Pond will keep their names
The
committee approved renaming the area around Heiden Pond “The Brickyard.” The name “The Brickyard” is a reference to
the heritage of Watertown and the brickmaking business historically done in
that area. Eventually a sign will be put
up made out of Watertown bricks recognizing that history. WG
05 13 LAKE VICTORIA
05 13 HEIDEN POND
Cross References:
Third, S,
406 1912, Home of L H Cordes
Sprague brickyard,
1899 mention of
John Koehler associated with
company
BACK TO LOCAL BRICKMAKING
Last week we
talked about the old brickyard ponds on the south side of the city and then
moved into the brickmaking business that at one time flourished in our
community.
Today we want to
continue a bit on that theme.
We talked a bit
about the famous Octagon House and the hundreds of thousands of bricks that had
gone into its construction. Most all of those bricks came from Watertown
brickmakers with the exception of the facing brick which John Richards, the
home’s owner, determined should be of Milwaukee’s “Cream City Brick” which he
felt had a better look. A lot of people would disagree with that notion, but he
was the man paying the bills, so he got what he wanted.
But another fine
example of Watertown brick is the Ferdinand Hartwig home which is now part of
the Mary Knoll Subvision adjacent to the Watertown High School and Brandt/Quirk
Park properties.
Hartwig was an
early pioneer and first settled in Ixonia and worked in a brickyard there for
25 cents a day. One time when his employer failed to pay him, Hartwig took his
compensation by being paid in bricks.
He later moved to
Watertown and became a breeder of pedigreed Durham cattle and later Holsteins.
A short while later he built and operated a lime kiln on his property for his
own exclusive use. That led him in 1864 to construct his brick home in that
area and it remains there today. Way back in 1864 the home cost $6,000, a tidy
sum.
The home has had
several owners over the years but we remember it well when it was known as the
Herb Lunde farm. Lunde was quite a character and always tinkering with
something. Herb’s son, Steve, was a classmate of ours and a friend to this day.
We remember being at that Hartwig and later Lunde farm many times. Back then,
Herb had purchased a wrecked Thunderbird dating back to one of the earliest
years of production, probably from the early 1950s, and completely restored it.
We took some rides with him in that classic car and it was pretty nifty, but
today we can’t imagine what a car of that vintage and model would be worth. We
remember the home was so large it had a pair of staircases to the second and
third floors which we always thought to be quite unusual. But, it gave an idea
of the size of the home.
Watertown’s last
brick manufacturer was Oscar Carlson, who with his wife, Loda, operated the
brickyard where the ponds are now located.
In 1925 he
purchased a controlling interest in the Watertown Brick and Tile Company. He
moved to the city from Menomonie when the purchase was completed.
He bought the
company from Kusel and Gaston. In later years he recalled to the Daily Times
that he believed the business was originally owned by a Mr. Terbigen (Terbrueggan?)
The Carlson pit,
now the two lakes we’ve been writing about, was equipped with a cable car to
transport the clay some feet to his shed where the clay was machine pressed
into molds and then placed in the nearby kiln. Gradually that pit grew until
some parts of it are over 20 feet deep. Once brick-making ended, the pit
gradually filled with spring water and it is now Lake Victoria and the adjacent
soon-to-be Brickyard Pond.
After the
brickmaking business ended in Watertown, Oscar moved into a slightly different
direction. He was involved with a lot of old building demolition work and would
bring piles of bricks to his property south of Clark Street where he’d hire
young people to knock off the mortar and stack the bricks on pallets to be used
again. That business continued into the early 1960s.
Oscar and his
wife, Loda, lived at 1016 S. Eighth St., not all that far from the brick
business. They also built a cottage off
the shore of Lake Oscalo, now Lake Victoria, where they enjoyed many spring,
summer and fall days. Back then it was a
pretty quiet neighborhood.
We don’t know when
it ended but in the heyday of making bricks, a spur line from the old Milwaukee
Road tracks went all the way to the brickyard where it branched into two
sidings where bricks were loaded on cars and sent on their way. That siding
went past the Sealed Air plant (years ago the old shoe factory), past Reiss
Industries, through the Wisconsin Energy property, past the open field, part of
which today is a large water detention pond, across Clark Street, along the now
parking lot of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, and on to the pond. The southern portion of the tracks are long
gone, but the spur coming off the main line for some blocks is still in place. The actual connection from the main line to
the spur was disconnected about a year ago because of a lack of use and costs
to maintain it.
The brickmaking
business was a huge one in Watertown for decades, but as society changes so do
the businesses and industries. - TLS
Above derived from
WDTimes article
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin