First Plant of Acme Brick Co.

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out here in Parker County, near the banks of the Brazos River, something got built in 1891 that would quietly go on to outlast just about everything around it. George Bennett put up a brick factory, one of the earliest in all of North Texas, and he didn't pick this spot by accident.

The ground right here was sitting on large deposits of quality shale. The Brazos had seen to that. You want to make brick, you need the right earth, and this earth had it.

Now, a factory needs fuel, and in the early days those kilns were fired with locally mined coal. Then came wood. Then gas.

The fuel changed, but the fire never went out. Getting brick to buyers took some creative thinking too. For short deliveries, mule-drawn wagons did the heavy hauling.

For statewide sales, the nearby Texas and Pacific Railway did the work; load it up, ship it out, Parker County brick headed across Texas. And here's where the story lands hard. By 1966, seventy-five years after George Bennett broke ground on this patch of shale, Acme Brick had grown into the largest maker of face brick in the entire United States.

One man, one river bank, one good deposit of shale. Seventy-five years later, the biggest in the country. The Brazos just keeps rolling, and the kilns never really stopped.

What the marker says

One of earliest North Texas brick factories. Built in 1891 by George Bennett. Plant site located here because of large deposits of quality shale near Brazos River. Kilns were fired with locally mined coal; later with wood; then gas. Plant used mule-drawn wagons for short deliveries; the nearby T. & P. Railway for statewide sales. By 1966, its 75th anniversary, Acme is the largest maker of face brick in the United States. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966