CALIFORNIA BRICKS

NILES

Donated by Mary Thrower

Brand name: NILES

Company: California Pressed Brick Co. (1907), Western Clay Products Co. (1929)

Location: Niles Canyon, Fremont, Alameda County, CA

Years: 1907-1917, 1929-1930+

Type: Dark red paving brick, face brick, fire brick.

Description: Brand name raised on the face of paving brick.

Equipment: Dry-pan grinding, storage bunkers, wet-pan mill, 9 round down-draft periodic-type 30-ft. kilns, gas fired, each pair served by 70 ft. rectangular stack

Production rate: 5,000 tons per year (1930), 17,000 tons per year (later)

Deposit: Local clay deposit on the property mined from quarry.

Comments: After 1929, other products including sewer pipe, tile, architectural terra cotta, and art pottery were made here.

Source: Oakland Tribune, August 1, 1907; Livermore Herald, June 13, 1908, p. 7; Township Register, Jan. 30, 1930; History of Washington Township, 1950; CDMG v. 46, no. 2; San Jose Mercury, January 16, 1985, p. 3.

For more information see under Brickmakers the California Pressed Brick Company.

View of the plant when is was called the Mission Pottery, with
stacks of clay pipe in the yard. Note the plant and the two round
down draft kilns. Taken by the author in 1992.

View of Mission Pottery showing the 70-ft. chimney and a round
down-draft kiln in the metal shed. Taken by the author in 1992.

Comments or questions are welcomed.
Please send email to Dan Mosier at danmosier@earthlink.net.