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Boyd
Fire Brick
I lived in central New York (Skaneateles) during the 1960s and 70s and was
active in the Humane Association of Central New York, along with the
Onondaga Kennel Club. A friend of mine in these groups owned a boarding
kennel in Elbridge, NY (another little town close by). One day she called
me and told me that if I wasn't busy, she had something she knew I'd be
interested in seeing. When I got to her place, she said she was working
on tearing down an incinerator on her property, and when she got to the
interior, she saw the Boyd bricks. She welcomed me to take as many as I
wanted, and I took all that I could load in my car, and came back later
with a station wagon.
Over the years I have used a few, broken a few, and my father used a few. I had to move them to Virginia with me. The "collection" is probably down to about 50 pieces now. I plan to get them in a better place to preserve the balance of them this summer.
I always wondered about the company that made the brick. I looked a little on the Internet a
few weeks ago with no luck.
Regards
Bob
Boyd
(Note: Does anyone know anything about the company that made the
firebrick? Firebrick is different than regular brick made for use in buildings. Firebrick is made to handle a lot of heat and is used in
chimneys, incinerators, etc. but isn't made to erect buildings or walls.
This example was graciously given to me by Robert Boyd.
douglas gowland douglasgowland "at"
yahoo.com
Subject: Boyd Brick,
Richard
Boyd Brick was owned an operated by my great grandfather, Robert Boyd in
Milton, Ontario, Canada. He was brother of Mary, Margaret, William and
Alexander, who never left Scotland. He was from Skilmorly, outside of
Glasgow.
My grandmother Mary Ada Boyd was the bookkeeper. Mother thinks a big
company bought out Boyd Brick.
Our family has a 'couple' of the bricks. 'Cousin Kenny Boyd of Canada
has plenty of info. Ken Boyd scmil "at"
sympatico.ca
Doug.
Boyd Brick Employees 1926
BOYD BRICK PLANT
In 1913 S. E. Brandon and Robert Boyd purchased 64.63 acres of land,
part of lot 3 concession 7 in Nassagaweya Township, for the purpose of
building a brick plant. The site was on the west side of Tremaine Road
in the area of Milton Heights. By 1914 Brandon relinquished his rights
in the project and Robert Boyd became the sole owner. The plant, built
by Robert Boyd, was located on the south side of the C.P.R. Line and was
generally known as the Boyd Yard.
Many of the inhabitants of Milton Heights and also of Milton constituted
the work force, the Hilson – McLaughlin family was well represented
there along with Joe Waters, Cliff Stover etc.
By 1922 the Boyd Pressed Brick Co. was sold to the Atlas Brick Co. Ltd.
And the general manager of that company was a Mr. McFerran. After only
three years, however, a new firm, Interprovincial Brick Co. Ltd. became
the new owners in 1925.
Interprovincial Brick Co. had two brick yards, the other one at
Cheltenham. Both yards finally became part of the Cooksville Brick
Company.
Thanks to:
Brenda Whitlock, Milton Historical Society ewbw
"at" sympatico.ca
OLD BRICKYARD LEAVES LOTS OF CLUES
In the previous article I mentioned a visit Bob Randall and I made to
the site of the old Toronto Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Ltd. (the
Lewis yard) at Milton Heights. On that afternoon we also visited the
site of another old brickyard just to the west of it, along the C.P.R.
tracks. There is a roadway which runs from the centre of Milton Heights
across to the tracks, about a quarter of a mile away. This was the
access roadway originally to the Boyd Brick Co.
Bob knew about that plant and we had no trouble locating it. Whereas the
first site showed scarcely any signs of the early industry, there were
many signs at the site of the old Boyd Brick plant. There was a roadway
into the pit. There were traces of old buildings.
We found old bricks that had the imprint of the Boyd Brick Co., the
Atlas Brick Co., and the Interprovincial Brick Company. I had heard
references years ago to these yards, but did not know where they were
located.
Mrs. Walter Hayward was able to provide me with more information about
the Boyd Brick Co. Her father, Robert Boyd, had been transferred from
the States to Toronto to act as the Canadian Manager of the Aluminum
Crown Stopper Co. Partly through acquaintance with Ed Brandon, Mr. Boyd
became quite interested in the Milton area and the brick-making
business.
Late in 1913 and early 1914 he organized the Boyd Brick Co. and started
operations. His foreman at the yard was Thomas Cochrane, uncle of Bill
Tight. As a result of the outbreak of World War I there was some
confusion about the choice of a home for the Boyd family. They lived for
a short time at 223 Queen Street. They returned to Toronto, then came
back to town to live at 167 Thomas Street.
Robert Robb of Milton Heights remembers that there was a large crane
working in the area for the C.P.R. at the time the plant was built. This
crane was available for prompt use in building a siding into the plant.
As the transportation to town was not good, Mr. Boyd set up one room in
the office building for sleeping quarters. He worked hard and long hours
at the plant during the week and returned to his family in town for the
weekends. The workers lived in the Milton Heights area or walked back
and forth from Milton to their jobs.
In 1919 his daughter Mary began to work in the office at the plant. This
was about the same time that my sister began to work in the office of
the Milton Brick Co. Both of the girls walked out the C.P.R. tracks to
their jobs and back daily. In addition Mary used to walk to town to pick
up the money for the payroll of the brickyard each week.
In late 1923 or early 1924 Mr. Boyd sold the business to the Atlas Co.,
and went into the home-building business in Toronto. The Atlas Company
was organized by a Toronto business man, F B. McFarran. It was at this
time that Joe Waters left his job at the wire cut machine at the main
yard of the Milton Pressed Brick Co. and began to work at the fourth
yard.
The company had one press for the making of the hard, pressed brick, and
it had a wire cut machine. It used oil in the manufacturing process,
which created problems. Joe Waters was instrumental in the replacement
of this machine by one using a steam process, made by the Freese Machine
Co. in Ohio.
There were 15 or 16 employees which made it about half the size of its
neighbour, the Toronto Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta, which by then had
become Plant No. 2 of the Milton Pressed Brick. Five or six of the men
were occupied in moving the clay shale from the pit to the plant. Hopper
cars were pulled on a cable by a steam hoist, along very narrow gauge
tracks. Four or five men were brick-makers in the plant, the others
operated the dryer, the screen, and the loading of bricks first in the
kilns and then into the railway cars.
In 1928 or 1929 Mr. McFarran set up another yard in Streetsville, right
next to the Streetsville yard of the Milton Pressed Brick on Thomas
Street, Streetsville. Joe Waters moved to a home on Thomas Street too
and continued in the employ of McFarran in the F. B. McFarran Brick Co.
The Atlas yard was sold to the Interprovincial Brick Company, a
subsidiary of the Cooksville Brick Company, which in turn was taken over
later by Domtar Limited.
From “Memories of Milton” by Mel Robinson. Published by The Milton
Historical Society, 2003.
NOTE:
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source. When you find the name of an ancestor listed, confirm the facts
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