In 1894, Francis Henry Dagg and Isaac Mawhinney started a brick yard at Holland. The plant was managed by a Mr. Fix of Portage la Prairie, who came with 26 years of experience in brick-making, in Canada and overseas. By late August 1894, the brick yard was turning out 8,000 light-red bricks per day and was expected to turn out 150,000 bricks that season. Dagg’s office and residence in Holland were clad with bricks from his own yard, as was a residence built for John R. Mawhinney. The brick-making machine was producing excellent quality brick and the yard boasted a kiln that held 70,000 bricks at one time. By 1895, they were turning out 10,000 bricks per day and expected to produce 2,000,000 bricks during that season. Brick made that year were sold to J. H. Herron for the construction of a large hotel at Cypress River. By mid-July 1896, the yard employed 13 men who had made 115,000 bricks. Only 200,000 bricks were made in 1897 with approximately the same amount produced in 1898. In the spring of 1898, Mawhinney left the firm and moved to MacGregor to farm. Dagg remained a brick manufacturer until 1904.
Manitoba Brick Yards by Randy Rostecki, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch Report, May 2010.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 9 May 2020
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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