Mackey Brick and Tile Manufacturing Company

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Mackey Brick and Tile Manufacturing Company, out in Wilson County. Pull up a chair and let the fire breathe a little, because this one starts a long way from Texas. We're talking about a man born Nelson Mackey Laraway, in Catskill, New York, in 1825.

He grew up in the Hudson Valley, and in that part of the world, the name Mackey meant one thing: brick. Brick manufacturing was practically stitched into the family name before he ever set foot in the wide-open South. Now, a man with that kind of heritage isn't going to stay put.

He tried business ventures in Iowa, then Illinois, and somewhere along the way he shed the Laraway and went simply by Nelson Mackey. Then, in the late 1870s, he pointed himself toward the San Antonio area, and Texas, whether it knew it or not, was about to get acquainted with some very serious brick. By the 1880s, Mackey was investing in a brick manufacturing company, the kind of operation that would eventually grow into one of the most successful in the entire state.

In 1887, he and several partners acquired land around Calaveras. Now here's where it gets precise, because Mackey was a precise kind of man. Of that tract, one hundred and fifty acres were set aside strictly for mining clay, the raw material of the whole enterprise.

The remaining acreage served a different but equally essential purpose: supplying the thirty thousand cords of wood needed to fire the kilns. Thirty thousand cords. Let that number sit with you a moment.

That is not a small fire. Workers who came to run this operation had the choice to live on-site in company housing. They were paid in tokens, redeemable at the company store, which was about as self-contained an economy as you could build outside a small town.

And then came the railroad angle, because every great Texas operation eventually involves a railroad. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad created a spur specifically to pick up bricks right there on-site. They called it the Mackey spur.

With that kind of transportation at the ready, Mackey bricks began moving across southern Texas, and the buff-colored bricks started showing up in places that mattered. Downtown San Antonio businesses were built with them. The foundation of the Federal Building.

An addition to the Menger Hotel. The Vance Building. These weren't decorative touches.

These were the bones of a city going up, and Mackey's operation was supplying them. But the single most staggering chapter in this story is the year 1891. That year, the Southwest Texas State Lunatic Asylum was constructed using seven million Mackey bricks.

Seven million. And Mackey himself, a man clearly fond of a good illustration, liked to point out that if you lined those bricks end to end, they would have reached from San Antonio all the way to Chicago. Now that's a man who knew how to make a number land.

In 1889, the company had added the word tile to its name and began producing red clay pipe from a quarry south of San Antonio, branching out, staying ambitious. But ambition, as Texas has taught more than one industrialist, does not guarantee survival. Fierce competition from south Texas and Mexican brick companies began to eat into the business, and by the late 1890s, the operation was in decline.

Nelson Mackey passed away in 1898 and is buried in Perry, Iowa, far from the buff-colored skyline his bricks helped raise. The man started with a name that meant brick in the Hudson Valley, carried it through Iowa and Illinois, planted it deep in Wilson County soil, and left seven million pieces of himself mortared into buildings across southern Texas. That's a legacy you could lay your hand on.

What the marker says

Nelson Mackey (1825-1898), founder of Texas-based Mackey Brick Company, was born Nelson Mackey Laraway in Catskill, New York. He grew up in the Hudson Valley where the name Mackey was synonymous with brick manufacturing. After business ventures in Iowa and Illinois, Mackey came to the San Antonio area in the late 1870s. By the 1880s, he began to invest in a brick manufacturing company that would eventually become one of the most successful in the state. In 1887, he and several partners acquired land around Calaveras. Of this tract, 150 acres were set aside for the mining of clay for brick making, and the remaining acreage supplied the necessary 30,000 cords of wood needed to fire kilns. Mackey's employees had the choice to live on-site in company housing. Workers were paid in tokens that were redeemable at the company store. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad created a spur named the Mackey spur to pick up bricks on-site. With transportation readily available, Mackey bricks were soon shipped across southern Texas. The buff-colored bricks were used to build various downtown San Antonio businesses, as well as landmarks such as the foundation of the Federal Building, an addition to the Menger Hotel and the Vance Building. Bricks were also used in construction outside of San Antonio. In 1891, the Southwest Texas State Lunatic Asylum was constructed using seven million Mackey bricks. Mackey often pointed out that if lined end-to-end, they would have reached from San Antonio to Chicago. In 1889, the company added "tile" to their name and produced red clay pipe from a quarry south of San Antonio. Unfortunately, because of fierce competition with south Texas and Mexican brick companies, the business declined by the late 1890s. Mackey passed away in 1898 and is buried in Perry, Iowa.