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 A.P. Green Fire Brick Company Plant - Mexico, Missouri Posted by:  BruceS
N 39° 09.883 W 091° 52.421
15S E 597304 N 4335659
Large now non-operating brick plant in Mexico, Missouri.
Waymark Code: WMHXVY
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 08/25/2013
Views: 8
THE A. P. GREEN FIRE BRICK COMPANY PLANT, east end of E. Breckenridge St., is one of the largest units of its type in the world. The plant is an extensive group of steel and corrugated-iron buildings, kilns, and sheds. In front of the group, approached by a landscaped drive, is a white-brick office building of Classic design. In the rear are the clay pits and a small lake. The clay, of excellent quality, is scooped from the open pits by steam shovels and hauled to the crusher house in small railway cars. It then passes through an amazingly elaborate system of processing until it reaches the molds and the modern tunnel kilns. Practically every operation, from the digging of the clay to the measuring of "grain size," aging, and testing of finished products, is in charge of engineers. The company maintains a modern laboratory equipped with a self-contained model brick plant. Three types of refractories are made: dry press, stiff mud, and handmade, the last molded in thousands of intricate forms. The molders are men of long experience and have an artisan's pride in their work. Each product is stamped with the name of the molder as well as that of the company. This custom dates back to the days of the guilds ; it gives the molders a feeling of responsibility and a pride in workmanship that people who operate machines cannot experience. The A. P. Green Brick Company, founded by A. P. Green in 1910, and employing approximately 500 persons, has what amounts to a world monopoly on many types of fire-clay products. The Mexico Refractories plant is a similar establishment... - Missouri: A Guide to the "Show Me" State, Tour 15, pg. 557 - 58.
The A.P Green Fire Brick Plant shut down several years ago. The office buildings, kilns, and manufacturing buildings all sit idle. Another firm operated part of the plant producing another type of brick in recent years but that production has also ceased. The office and research buildings have begun to deteriorate due to lack of use.
Book: Missouri
Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 557 - 558
Year Originally Published: 1941
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