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Interstate Brick Company

This page was last updated on September 13, 2024.

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Overview

(The following information about brick making in Utah focuses on those companies large enough to use railroads. Inbound clay for bricks and other clay products was received by rail, and the finished brick and clay products were shipped out by rail to destinations throughout the Intermountain and Western and Midwestern states.)

Most of the large brick making and clay tile companies got their start in the 1890s and grew throughout the following 40 years. Until the advent of automobile trucks and improved highways in the 1930s, all brick and clay tile shipments were by railroad.

Salt Lake Pressed Brick, and its sucessor Interstate Brick, was located in the general area of 3100 South and 1100 East, and was served by its own long spur, known as the Wilford Brick Spur, that branched off of the D&RGW Park City (later Sugar House) Branch. The Wilford Brick Spur was 1.5 miles in length. The spur first shows in the Rio Grande Western timetable for April 1902.

(The Wilford name comes from the destination being within the newly created Wilford Ward of the LDS church, which built its new building in 1901. The Wilford Ward itself was named for church leader Wilford Woodruff, who died in 1898. The Wilford Ward was bounded (north to south) by 2700 South and 3600 South, and (west to east) by 1100 East and the canal along 20th East.)

Interstate Brick company was located at 3100 South and 1100 East in Salt Lake City.

The company was organized on June 25, 1936, and its registration with the State of Utah expired on April 21, 1971. (Utah Business Search, Entity Number: 559151-0142)

Salt Lake Pressed Brick Co. 1891

In 1878, John P. Cahoon began manufacturing bricks on his property located on 4th West and 53rd South in Murray, Utah. As demand increased, he found it necessary to move his plant to a better location. As a result, on January 6, 1891, Cahoon organized the Salt Lake Pressed Brick Co., and purchased land from Edward P. Hemsley. This purchase allowed the company to be closer to large clay deposits, the railroad line and their market. Through the years it became the largest brick manufacturing company in the west. In the early days the bricks were dry pressed by Boyd Presses and removed by hand. Over the years the process was mechanized and automated. The clay was processed in mixing and pulverizing sheds, moved by conveyor belts to "bins" where moisture was added, and then kneaded in "pug mills". This damp mixture was then extruded from dies and cut into shapes by wire cutters that worked much as egg slicers do. The brick was then "fired" in coal-burning kilns. Through improvements and expansion programs, the plant reached production of 60,000 bricks per day. Operations of this site ended on November 28, 1972 when the plant was shut down and dismantled. The company moved its operation to West Jordan, Utah, where it is now located. A large chimney for one of the kilns on the property was built in 1902 and was called the Smith Kiln chimney.

The site where Salt Lake Pressed Brick began its operations was previously a brick-making plant operated by Edward Hemsley and his brother Job. Hemsley had immigrated from England in 1862. He was well-known in Sugar House as being a doctor for the area. Edward Hemsley had purchased the tract of land in Mill Creek which he called "The Brickyard." With his brother Job they manufactured bricks used in construction of early homes, businesses and church meetinghouses. Bricks from their operations were used to build the first school house in Sugar House. Their business was so vital that Brigham Young rescinded Edward's mission call so that he might stay home and continue making bricks. Edward Hemsley died July 22, 1910 at age seventy-one.

The following comes from the June 1923 issue of The Utah Payroll Builder magazine.

At some time in 1924, the Salt Lake Pressed Brick company began using their famous logo of a walking character made entirely of brick.

Interstate Brick Co. 1936

October 15, 1936
The bankruptcy reorganization of the Salt Lake Pressed Brick company as the Interstate Brick company was approved by the Third District Court on July 11, 1936. A special shareholders meeting was held on August 31, 1936 to approve the reorganization plan, and to dissolve the Salt Lake Pressed Brick company. The reorganization was made final on October 15, 1936. Chester Cahoon was shown as president. The loan to pay off the debt of the old corporation and fund the reorganization was furnished by the federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation, with the loan being secured by the property of the new corporation. (Salt Lake Tribune, June 29, 1936; July 31, 1936; October 16, 1936)

January 16, 1949
"The Interstate Brick Co., of Salt Lake City, which concentrates on production of building brick, is increasing the capacity of its plant approximately one-third. The company has spent approximately $150,000 for additional building and equipment in its present expansion program. Included in this is a new No. 60 Steele brick machine which produces 10,000 brick per hour, or 80,000 per shift. Present plans call for an additional shift which will bring production to 160,000 bricks per day. Interstate also has added a number of heavy duty trucks to its raw materials fleet." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 16, 1949)

(The former Utah Fire Clay brick plant on 1100 South in Salt Lake City was closed in December 1968 by Interpace, its successor parent company.)

(Read more about Utah Fire Clay, includes links to its successor companies, Murray Refractories and Interpace Corp.)

February 6, 1971
The following comes from the February 6, 1971 issue of the Deseret News newspaper.

November 28, 1972
Operations of brick plant on 1100 East ended on November 28, 1972 when the plant was shut down and dismantled.

July 1980
The site of the Interstate Brick company was redeveloped as the "Brickyard Plaza" shopping mall, with a grand opening set for July 29th to August 2nd, 1980. The two largest smokstacks from the former brick factory were retained and made as "decroative elements" in the overall exterior design of the mall. The cost of the redevelopment was reported as being $30 million. A general partnership known as Brickyard Associates was formed in 1976 to develop, manage and own the new development, which included the shopping center, a two-story office building and 108 residential condominiums, along with a large Harmon's grocery store. Site preparation began in July 1979 and actual construction began in September 1979. (Salt Lake Tribune, Juy 28, 1980, special issue)

August 4, 1984
Interstate Brick Names New President - West Jordan - Harvey P Cahoon has been named president and chief executive officer of Interstate Brick Co. one of the area's oldest continuing businesses, it was announced Friday. He succeeds Harold P Cahoon, who became vice chairman of the company's board of directors. The new president is the fifth member of the Cahoon family to head the company in its 94-year history. John P Cahoon was one of the founders of the original Salt Lake Pressed Brick Co. in 1891 and served as president until 1989. A son, Chester P. was president from 1939-1960, when he retired and was replaced by John B. Cahoon, who served until 1966. His son, Harold, served for the past 18 years. The company's name was changed to Interstate Brick in 1936 and the firm was purchased by Mountain Fuel Supply Co. in 1971. It presently is a subsidiary of Entrada Industries Inc., the wholly- owned subsidiarv of Mountain Fuel Supply. The company moved its headquarters from the old brickyard site in the Sugar House area to West Jordan in 1972. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 4, 1984)

John P. Cahoon

The following comes from the National Register of Historic Places.

Harold P. Cahoon

Harold P. Cahoon was born in Salt Lake City. After graduating from Granite High School he attended the University of Utah and obtained the first B.S. degree in Ceramic Engineering and Mineralogy. Upon receiving the Edward Orton Fellowship at the University of Washington, Cahoon earned an M.S. degree in Ceramic Engineering with a minor in Mineralogy. Cahoon returned to the University of Utah to receive a Ph.D. in Ceramics with a minor in Mineralogy in 1955.

Harold is the grandson of John P. Cahoon, who founded Interstate Brick Company in 1891. Harold's father, John B. Cahoon, served as president from 1960 until his death on 1 April 1966, whereupon Harold took over the company. Harold had been employed by Interstate Brick for 32 years before he became president. He expanded the company in the late 1960s, making the company diversify into tile and arranging with Mountain Fuel Supply for a merger with Entrada Industries. Because the merger provided the capital the company needed for expansion, the newly-formed Interstate Brick Division of Entrada Industries was able to build a larger plant in 1972 to meet demand. Interstate Brick was able to expand its sales with the new plant. The collection includes a variety of pamphlets and newspaper articles about Interstate Brick Company, both before and during Harold's leadership.

H.P. Cahoon Obituary

Harold Pulaski Cahoon 1921 ~ 2005

Our loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather, age 83, passed away on April 24, 2005 unexpectedly from a brain hemorrhage. He was born November 24, 1921 in Salt Lake City, Utah to John Boyd Cahoon, Sr. and Marion Vera Carlson. He graduated from Granite High School and the University of Utah. He received an MA, from the University of Washington, and Ph.D. from the University of Utah.

He and Priscilla Johnson were married on March 20, 1943 in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple. They were happily married for 62 years. He lived in Salt Lake City and retired to Washington City, Utah. He is survived by his loving wife and children, Harvey (Elizabeth), Ann (daughter-in-law), Marion Searle (Clark), Bradly (Barbara) and Wendy Pettit (Lee); sisters, Jane Hansen and Grace Ebert; 27 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by son, Gary B. Cahoon, and brother, John B. Cahoon, Jr.

Harold's career and passion was brick manufacturing. Under his leadership Interstate Brick Company, founded by his grandfather, expanded and moved to the present facility in West Jordan, Utah. He was an avid reader and researcher. He published several books on the early settlers of Washington City, Utah. Through his efforts many monuments to early southern Utah pioneer men and women have been dedicated. His friendly style gave him rapport with people from all walks of life. Interment, Wasatch Lawn Cemetery.

More Interstate Brick Information

Interstate Brick, 1891-1975 -- Contains records related to the operation of the Interstate Brick Company. These files include client files, contract bids, brick making books, catalogs, accident reports, correspondence, photographs, microfilms, blueprints, records of related companies, and various other materials. Extent: 9 boxes, 30 cartons, 2 oversize boxes. Creator: Interstate Brick. -- Salt Lake Pressed Brick Company. Call Number: MSS 3326 Series 1. (L. Tom Perry Special Collections; 20th Century Western & Mormon Manuscripts; Harold B. Lee Library; Brigham Young University; Provo, Utah)

Interstate Brick Financial records, 1891-1975 -- Contains documents related to the financial aspects of the Interstate Brick Company. Included are bank statements, financial statements, ledgers, invoices, payroll information, tax records, insurance policies, and other Financial related papers. Extent: 8 boxes, 27 cartons. Creator: Interstate Brick. -- Salt Lake Pressed Brick Company. Call Number: MSS 3326 Series 2. (L. Tom Perry Special Collections; 20th Century Western & Mormon Manuscripts; Harold B. Lee Library; Brigham Young University; Provo, Utah)

Salt Lake Pressed Brick in 1909

The following comes from "Sketches Of The Inter-Mountain States, 1847 1909." Published By Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., 1909

(Link to digital version at Archive.org)

If this average man were told that there is a concern in Salt Lake making 200,000 brick per day enough to build ten modern five-room houses he would probably be incredulous and want to be "shown," and yet it is true. The Salt Lake Pressed Brick Company is that concern, and in the number of employees and value of product it stands well up in the list of large manufacturers in Utah. Its extensive plant is located at Fourteenth South and Eleventh East Streets, Salt Lake City. When the original plant was built, in 1891, it was only after exhaustive explorations for and tests of clay beds containing suitable brick material throughout the valley generally, from points in Davis County on the north to the vicinity of Sandy on the south. Time and experience have justified the wisdom of the selection then made. Not only has the clay proved admirably adapted to the manufacture of the finest brick, but it has been found to exist in unexpected quantities. The beds are in some places fourteen feet thick and are known to extend east from the factory for a mile and a half and to considerable distances in other directions. The company now owns 150 acres of these clay lands, and has the material to make brick for years to come. The plant itself covers nearly ten acres of ground. In its construction 10,000,000 brick were used, more than were required in building any ether structure or plant in Utah, the great Garfield Smelter alone excepted. The whole plant is lighted and operated, so far as power can be applied, by electricity generated by two water-propelled power plants, one located in Big Cottonwood Canyon and one in Mill Creek Canyon.

The first brick plant built by the company had a capacity of 20,000 brick per day which has now grown to 200,000 per day, and it is harder to keep up with the demand now than it was then. Such success is not usually achieved without merit, the product of the company being a superior article, whether the high-grade white or red pressed brick of which so many handsome buildings in Salt Lake are constructed or the common brick used in inside and back walls.

This superiority is due to perfect material, adequate equipment and efficient management combined with "knowing how." These things have given the brick produced by this company a wide fame throughout the inter-mountain country and they are extensively used all over Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho and western Wyoming, going as far west as Goldfield, Nevada, and Boise, Idaho, and north to Butte, Montana. Twenty-five of the largest school buildings in Salt Lake City, besides scores of other large buildings and many hundreds of residences, have been built from the product of this factory. There is a railroad switch to the factory from the Park City line, affording good shipping facilities.

The clay is plowed from the beds where nature placed it and scraped to the loading chutes where it falls into cars each holding enough to make 2,000 brick, and is run by mule power on an easy down grade to the clay sheds which have a storage capacity sufficient to run the factory through any period of rainy weather that may occur. From here the clay is carried by a system of endless belt conveyors and elevators through automatic machinery which grinds, screens and tempers it, finally depositing it in bins above the presses, which are to form it into brick. From these bins it drops by gravity down a chute into the presses. These are of two types, the mold presses which shape each individual brick separately under enormous pressure, and the wire cut press in which the continuous column of compressed clay forced from the orifice of the machine is automatically sliced into brick, twenty at a clip. Of the first type of machine there are four in use, two of six molds each and two of four. These are used for making the better grades of pressed brick and their combined capacity is 110,000 brick per day. Of the wire cut type there is but one machine in use, but it is a hustler, turning out approximately 100,000 common brick per day. In the new kiln, where the common brick are made, the handling of the brick by hand is all but eliminated. This new kiln was built late in 1907, but was i"0t put into service until the summer of 1908. It is an immense affair, 1160 feet in length, including the storage space, and 110 feet wide. It is what is called an open-top, continuous kiln, and was built from designs original with Mr. J. P. Cahoon, manager of the company. Its capacity is 4,000,000 brick. It consists of a double row of kiln chambers and over each row travels a huge electric crane which picks up 2000 brick at a time and gently deposits them either in the drying department, in a kiln chamber for firing, in the storage space, or in the railroad car for shipping, as may be desired. The brick are handled in crates and the breakage is less than it would be by hand, while the saving in labor can hardly be estimated. Another feature of the new kiln is that it has no stack, there being substituted for it to create the necessary draft, an enormous fan, driven by a fifty-five horse-power electric motor.

The finest pressed brick are burned in the Kessler kilns, six in number and holding about half a million brick. These brick are burned from twenty-two to thirty days and are heated to a white heat. There is one Hoffman continuous kiln having twenty-two chambers and a capacity of 700,000 brick, and one tunnel continuous kiln with eighteen chambers and a capacity of 550,000. The aggregate capacity of all the kilns is 5,750,000 brick, or 220,000 for every working day, the time required in drying, burning and cooling the brick being about thirty days. In other words, in thirty days from the time a brick is molded it is ready for the market.

A continuous kiln is one in which the fire is burning all the time. It consists of a series of connected chambers arranged either in the form of an oval or in two parallel rows, and the fire passes slowly from chamber to chamber, so that some chambers are being filled, others are burning and others are being emptied, all at the same time. This system economizes fuel, and this economy is carried further by utilizing the waste heat from the burning chambers in drying the freshly molded brick. Crushed coal, or slack, is used for fuel and is fed into the kilns through small holes in the top, about a teacupful being put into each hole every half hour. An intense, even heat, that can be regulated perfectly is thus secured and maintained as long as desired. As they come from the kiln all brick except the common are sorted, or shaded as it is called, to secure absolute uniformity of color and quality. Certain red clay produces the red brick, other clay produces the white brick, and the color is also somewhat affected by differences in burning.

The company employs about 200 men and has $30,000 invested in teams engaged mainly in delivering brick throughout Salt Lake City. A roomy, convenient and up-to-date brick office building is now under construction and will be ready for occupancy in a few weeks. A down-town office is maintained at 126 Main Street, where an interesting display of the products of the factory may be seen. John P. Cahoon is president and manager of the company; George Curley, vice-president; Wm. S. Simkins, treasurer.

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