Aurora, New York, Brickyards
Excerpts from 150 Years in Aurora, 1818-1868
The Town of Aurora has had many brick yards from the earliest days, as the soil in many areas has the necessary materials.
Hambleton's Brick Yard before 1832 was located at Davis and Route 20A on North side.Mosher's Brick Yard was in the general vicinity of South Wales on Route 16, and the Adams family on Route 16 made bricks on their farm.
From 1840 or before that time there were three brick yards on Route 240 at the Aurora Orchard Park Townline:
- Smith and Brush manufactured paving brick. Mr. Brush was a brother to Alexander Brush, three times mayor of Buffalo [New York]. Many Buffalo streets were paved with this brick and the brick factory did a great deal of business during his administration.
- Then William Brush and John H. Black were co-owners of the brick yard and Smith was out.
- Later John H. Black bought out Brush. Then the John H. Black Co. was known as the Jewettville Brick Company. They made "pug" brick, taking samples on his bicycle, to Buffalo and Fort Erie, Canada, to drum up trade. After the railroad came, the company prospered and a great flywheel was shipped o the Jewettville Depot. It weighed many tons, with a width of eighteen feet and a thickness of two feet. Two wooden wagons drawn by four horses in tandem were needed to transport the flywheel for a new brick process. Many by-standers watched the proceeding.
In 1928, the John H. Black Co. began the manufacture of Haydite, a light weight aggregate used in heavy construction for inside building blocks. In 1977, the brick kilns were torn out. The company sold out to Anchor Concrete Products, Inc., who engaged only in the Haydite process in Jewettville, N.Y.