In the winter of 1901, David Tisdale started a brick-making yard at Crystal City. The known men he employed were a Mr. Park of Rainy River, Ontario as well as Frank Turk of Boissevain. Workers were building the yard’s first kiln by early July 1901 and they were able to fire their first kiln of bricks in early August. The second kiln was completed later that month, though it was not fired-up until after that year’s harvest to save the wood supply for the threshing machines. It is unknown what was produced in the second season but the Tisdale yard was closed by 1903. Bricks from the first kiln of Tisdale bricks were used by Thomas Greenway for the construction of a house for bachelors in 1901. Tisdale bricks were possibly used in the construction of the Parr Block and a church in Crystal City, circa 1903.
Manitoba Brick Yards by Randy Rostecki, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch Report, May 2010.
Error processing SSI fileThis 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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