In the summer of 1896, William Richard David, a local part-time insurance agent, established the Deloraine Brick Yard near Deloraine. The bricks produced here, imprinted with WRD in the frog, were shipped to Killarney, Hartney, and Carnduff (Saskatchewan). Little more is known about his brick-making yard during this time but his operation did face a short-lived employee strike for higher wages in August 1897. In 1899, David’s yard was quite active and, in May, the facility came under the management of George Jeffery from Peterboro, Ontario. The yard produced two train carloads in that season that were immediately shipped west when they were ready.
In 1901, the yard shipped 60,000 bricks to Melita, 30,000 bricks for the construction of a house in Deloraine, 100,000 bricks to J. Kennedy of Morden, two train carloads to Crystal City, and over 175,000 bricks to Killarney.
David entered into the Brandon brick market in 1903 and, by August of that year, his plant employed 25 men, turned out 20,000 bricks per day, and supplied brick within a 400-mile radius of the Deloraine area. However, in November 1903, he signed a contract to lease the brick yard to Albert B. Laird until 1907 and David relocated to Winnipeg, where he joined a firm of bankruptcy trustees. Laird operated the yard in 1904 from June to November, then sold coal and did general contractor work in the winter months. However, he turned over operation of the yard to W. H. Atkinson, who ran it until his death in July 1910.
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: William Richard David (1853-1926)
Manitoba Brick Yards by Randy Rostecki, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch Report, May 2010.
We thank Shayne Campbell for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 12 December 2021
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.
© 2010-2020
Randy Rostecki, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch, Gordon Goldsborough, and Manitoba Historical Society.
All rights reserved.
