Carlyle Labold Tile and Brick Company

The Carlyle Labold Tile and Brick Company is a former tile and brick factory in Petersburg (Coal Grove), Ohio.







History

The Petersburg Birck Company was formed by John Peters in Portsmouth and by 1887, it was manufacturing fire brick and tile for blast furnaces, rolling mills, and coke ovens. 5 Peters constructed a second plant east of Ironton on the site of the former Monitor Furnace afterward where it specialized in structural brick for buildings and roadways. The company was later sold to the Deegan Brick Company and the Forestdale Fire Brick Company in 1891. John Peters, Jr. acquired Forestdale for $4,200 at a sheriff’s sale on July 11, 1895.

Mesars, Carlyle & Labold, who had a large brick plant in Portsmouth, began experimenting with clay from Lawrence County, and after finding it to be of good quality, acquired the Forestdale Fire Brick factory in 1923 and renamed it Carlyle Labold Brick Company. 5 The new owners built a new, modern brick factory on-site, which entered production on May 5, 1925. A tile plant, with a 295-foot-long kiln, was added in late 1928, at which point the company name was changed to Carlyle Labold Tile & Brick. An elevated bridge from the kilns to the clay mines over Pike Street and the Norfolk & Western Railway opened on April 24, 1929.

The annual capacity of the plant was 12 million building bricks and tiles and was able to produce over 10 different shapes of building brick and 10 different shapes of tile. 5 The entire plant was electrically operated, except for the coal used in the kilns of the brick division and the natural gas used in the kilns in the tile division.

Carlyle Labold Tile & Brick was sold to the Mosaic Tile Company on September 5, 1935. 5

The elevated bridge that led to the clay mines was removed in 1960 to make room for the construction of the new U.S. Route 52 freeway. 5 In the early 1970s, Mosaic Tile encountered financial difficulties and by 1973, it was operating under “debtor in possession.” It continued to operate under the Mosaic Tile & Structural Stoneware brand until 1978 when all operations ceased.

Demolition

McGinnis Inc. purchased the former Carlyle Labold Tile & Brick site in 2006 with the goal of using the site as an intermodal railroad, barge, and truck freight center. 4 The village of Coal Grove requested bids for cleanup on the site in June, and a bid was awarded to Disposal Solutions of Middletown for $330,000. A separate $280,000 bid for contaminated soil removal was awarded to Environmental Demolition Inc. and remediation work on both contracts began in July. Petroleum-contaminated soils and asbestos tile and pipes were removed. Demolition on the structures began in October and the entire project was completed by January 2007.


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Sources

  1. Hall, H. C. “Future of Clay Manufacturers Bright in Lawrence County.” Huntington Advertiser 1 Sept. 1929.
  2. “Carlyle Tile is Sold to Boston Firm.” (unknown newspaper, publisher)
  3. “New Tile Department Being Planned at Carlyle Plant.” (unknown newspaper, publisher)
  4. “2006: A Year Not Soon Forgotten.” Ironton Tribune 30 Dec. 2006. 14 Feb. 2007 Article.
  5. Markel, Juanita. Our First 100 Years, Shine in ’89. N.p.: n.p., 1989.

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