This company began as the Monterey Brick and Stone Company in 1905 at Seaside, California,
where they manufactured sand-lime bricks shipped throughout the state. In October 1910, the
company moved to Sacramento because of the city's favorable future. The plant was built on
the east bank of the Sacramento River, just north of the Southern Pacific Railroad shops in
Sacramento. The company changed its name to the Sacramento Sandstone Brick Company.
The officers of the company in 1911 were A. G. Metz, president, R. M. Beebe, vice-president,
A. M. Marks, secretary, and D. W. Carmichael, treasurer. The manager was G. W. Bostwick, who
was formerly a manager for the U. S. Brick Corporation at Michigan City, Indiana. Bostwick
designed and constructed the Sacramento plant.
This company produced light gray and buff sand-lime bricks and fancy mold brick for trimmings.
Sand and crushed lime rather than clay were the ingredients in these bricks. The sand-lime
bricks showed remarkable results in tests for crushing strength, fire, frost, etc. This brick
had a crushing strength of 45,000 lbs. per square inch, and able to withstand temperatures
up to 3,300 degrees F. Besides brick, the company manufactured architectural stone for
trimmings such as window and door sills, caps, arches, water-table, coping, etc. The stone
work was a reproduction of the famous oolitic limestone of Southern Indiana.
Production began in April 1911, when the company was manufacturing 15,000 brick per day.
These bricks were first used in the buildings at the plant. Later shipments went into
building the Mikle Theater, Traveler's Hotel, and Hotel Sutter in Sacramento, the Pullman Car
Shops in Richmond, San Leandro High School in San Leandro, Hotel Hughson and Hotel Modesto
in Modesto, First Methodist Church in Oakland, and many other buildings.
Fine sand was mined from the bed of the Sacramento River. Lime was crushed and raised by a
small bucket elevator to a pulverizer. The lime was then measured and dumped into a large
revolving mixer with the proper proportion of sand. The two materials were mixed and subjected
to jets of steam for about 20 minutes. The mixture was run through a Quaker brick machine
and the green bricks were piled on cars which were run into brick cylinders. These cylinders
held 9,000 bricks each and in them the bricks were subjected to steam for 9 or 10 hours.
The finished bricks were piled in sheds for shipment. The plant had a capacity of 12,000
bricks per day. Crude oil stored in 20,000 gallon tanks, was used as fuel for generating
steam in a 60 h. p. boiler. Water was raised by a 3 h. p. electric motor from a 50-foot
well and stored in a 20,000 gallon tank.
In 1915, this plant was purchased by the Independent Pressed Brick Company.
View of the plant of the Sacramento Sandstone Brick
Company, Sacramento. From Brick and Clay, 1911.
Sacramento Sandstone Brick
One of the remaining buildings of the Pullman Car Shop in Richmond, CA,
made of light gray Sacramento sand-lime bricks.
Sacramento sand-lime brick in the wall of one of the Pullman Car Shops.
Sand-lime face brick is light gray, uniform in color. Visible clasts are only a few white quartz
up to 1/4 inch across in a fine cement-like sand body. The sand on weathered
surfaces is loose enough to rub off and some surfaces may be pitted or hummocky. No distinguishing
marks are visible on the sides and ends. The top and bottom faces could not be observed for description.
However, a sample of a similar brick shows no marks on the faces and one of the faces has a
shallow rectangular frog. Length 8 1/8, width 4, height 2 1/4.
Source
Architect and Engineer, June 1913, p. 30; Sept. 1913, p. 126; Oct. 1913, p. 85; Dec. 1913, p. 127;
Dec. 1915, p. 113.
Brick and Clay, 1911, v. 38, no. 1, p. 74.
Brick and Clay, 1911, v. 38, no. 4, p. 261.
Brick and Clay, 1911, v. 39, no. 11, p. 428.
Brick and Clay, 1912, v. 40, no. 3, p. 149.
California State Mining Bureau Report 15, 1917, p. 402-403.
