About 1897, John Augustus McNear, a Petaluma brickmaker, purchased the brickworks of the Fortin Brothers on
McNear Point, 4 miles east of San Rafael, Marin County, California. The clay deposit was located on the
nearby hill, where it was quarried up until about 1989, when it was finally exhausted. The clay deposit
consisted of a sandy shale and plastic clay. In 1913, a Bueyrus steam shovel loaded the cars, which were
horsedrawn in trains to storage bins. Trucks later replaced the horsedrawn train. Equipment in the
plant included crushers, elevators, screens, pug mill, two dry-pans, auger, a stiff-mud machine,
wire cutting machine, belt conveyor, drying sheds, and two Hoffman continuous downdraft kilns, coal and oil fired,
one with 20 compartments and one with 5 compartments. The plant capacity in 1913 was 20 million bricks per year.
In 1913, McNear hired 90 employees. In 1999, they had 50 employees producing 15 million bricks
per year.
In 1913, the bricks were loaded onto scows and shipped to Sacramento, Stockton, and throughout the San Francisco
Bay area. Today, large semi-trailers transport the bricks to as far as Ukiah in the north to San Jose in
the south. Pallets of various shades and styles of McNear brick can be seen in most building material yards.
The firm was first named E.B. McNear Brick Company, which set up an office at 704 Market St., San Francisco.
In 1921, it was listed as the McNear Brick Manufacturing Company at 681 Market St., San Francisco. In 1961,
it became the L.P. McNear Brick Company, run by Lawrence P. McNear, Sr., San Rafael. The L.P. McNear Brick
Company was incorporated on April 1, 1972 with John McNear as president. A second company was incorporated at
that time under the name of McNear Company Incorporated, with Robert S. Thomas as president and Bradley McNear
as vice president. These companies continue to operate the McNear brickyard at present.
View of the McNear brick plant near San Rafael, Marin County.
McNear Brick
Former San Mateo High School in San Mateo was faced with
McNear red-buff common brick. This building was recently razed.
McNear red-buff common brick on the wall of San Mateo High School.
Early common brick is orange, orange-red, red-buff, with visible white clasts on the surface. Clasts are angular feldspar
and chert fragments. Yellow-brown flashing is visible on some surfaces. Smooth surface texture, some with coarse grainy texture
and minor crazing. Irregular edges and rounded or broken corners. Sides show faint transverse mold markings. No lip present.
Extruded, stiff-mud process. Top and bottom face has velour texture from the wire cut. Transverse bulges on the sides, up to an
inch wide and 1/8 inch thick. Length 7 7/8 - 8 3/8, width 3 3/4 - 4, height 2 3/8 - 2 3/4.
McNear brick face showing velour texture.
Buff to white McNear "Alameda" face brick shows tiny brown iron spots on the surface with crackling. The faces are unmarked with sharp,
straight edges. Extruded, stiff-mud process. Length 8 1/4, width 4, height 2 1/4.
McNear "Alameda" brick in the Carnegie Library, 1904, in Petaluma.
McNear "Alameda" brick made in 1904.
Modern McNear bricks on shipping pallets, 2004.
Source
Aubury, Lewis E. The Structural and Industrial Materials of California. California State Mining Bureau Bulletin 38, 1906.
Barron, Karl. The Brickyard. Marin This Month, April 1961, p. 17.
Bradley, W.W. Mines and Mineral Resources of Portions of California, Part 2: The Counties of Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Marin,
Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo. California State Mining Bureau 14th Report of the State Mineralogist, for the Biennial Period 1913-1914,
1916, p. 244-247.
Domino, Donna. Marin's Commerce: Building On A Past. Marin Independent Journal, May 14, 1999, p. 14.
