The Brandon Brick and Lumber Company (BBLC) began operation as a brick manufacturer in 1900. It turned out a sand-lime brick, a light-coloured brick that was heavier in weight than clay bricks and had remarkable strength with a resistive force of 47,000 pounds per square inch. Their brick machinery produced 23 bricks per minute in 1906 and produced an average of 14,000 bricks per day.
In 1903, the BBLC formally gained its Charter of Incorporation, with its petition for its Letters Patent receiving provincial assent on 23 July 1903. The founding partners were John McDiarmid, manufacturer Henry Sampson, foreman John Clark, Alfred Reginald McDiarmid, and bookkeeper Thomas Theophilus Hilchie, of whom all but Hilchie served as initial directors. The company held a capital stock of $100,000 and established a presence in Brandon.
By the summer of 1906, the BBLC was under the management of G. N. Misener, who had helped establish many American brick plants. On 14 June 1910, the firm changed its name to Brandon Sandstone Brick Company. It reportedly operated into 1914, though was gradually shuttered due to labour and production demands of the First World War. It remained listed in the Brandon directories in 1915 but had vanished by 1917.
Manitoba Brickmakers by Hugh Henry, Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature, 1992.
Manitoba Brick Yards by Randy Rostecki, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch Report, May 2010.
“Local company to supply bricks for car barns,” Brandon Weekly Sun, 21 August 1913, page 14.
“City Council condemnds failure supply funds,” Brandon Weekly Sun, 4 May 1916, page 2.
Companies Office corporation documents (CCA 0059), 63B - Brandon Brick and Lumber Company Limited, GR6427, Archives of Manitoba.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 4 April 2023
Manitoba Bricks and Blocks
A history of the manufacture of bricks and concrete blocks in Manitoba, based on research by Randy Rostecki for the Manitoba Historic Resources Branch and supplemented by information compiled by Gordon Goldsborough of the Manitoba Historical Society. .
Bricks | Blocks | People | Glossary
We thank Hugh Arklie, Gordon McDiarmid, and Heather Bertnick for their help in the development of this online guide. Financial support of the Thomas Sill Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. Additional information was provided by Ina Bramadat, David Butterfield, Neil Christoffersen, Frank Korvemaker, Ed Ledohowski, Ken Storie, Lynette Stow, and Tracey Winthrop-Meyers.
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Randy Rostecki, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch, Gordon Goldsborough, and Manitoba Historical Society.
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