Tyler Bricks

Where the bricks came from

Brick from Thurber, Texas, 182 miles to the west, and from two more companies, one of them in Tyler.

050100150milesThurberMineral WellsFort WorthTyler182 miles,as the crow flies
Red brick from Thurber, Texas, paved Tyler's railroad crossings in 1906, in the National Register nomination's account.1 The two towns are 182 miles apart in a straight line.

The three makers

Tyler's paving brick came from the Thurber Brick Co. and the Mineral Wells Brick Co., with some from the local Tyler Brick Co., which paving contracts saved from bankruptcy.2

The 2000 National Register survey has Thurber’s red brick at the railroad crossings on July 2, 1906,3 and Mineral Wells brick, “heat treated clay,” around the courthouse square in 1907, though the Sanborn map dated September 1907 still says “streets not paved.”4 The two records

The city’s streets manager counted three types of brick in 2015, none still made; in 2025 the city’s Main Street director counted four in the downtown project area alone. Neither names the makers.5

Thurber's plant

In Erath County, about 75 miles west of Fort Worth.6

  1. 1897The plant opens
  2. 1898It begins making vitrified paving brick
  3. 1911By now it makes only pavers
  4. 1930or1931It closes, as cities turn to cheaper asphalt

The closing year depends on the source: 1931 by the state marker and Tarleton’s Industrious Historian, 1930 by the Handbook of Texas and Tarleton’s Gordon Center.7

“Old Hunter”

The state marker at the plant’s site tells it this way: the manager, W. K. Gordon, persuaded the company’s president, R. D. Hunter, to build a brick plant in 1897. It started with three Ross-Keller presses driven by a Corliss steam engine nicknamed “Old Hunter,” covered five acres and employed 800 men.8

As the Green and Hunter Brick Company it was making 30,000 bricks a day by November 1897; another Tarleton history gives a reported 80,000 a day.9

men
800
acres
5
presses
3

Under other streets

Thurber brick paved roads throughout Texas, the marker says, and it names four.10

  1. Bankhead Highwaythe old U.S. 80
  2. Congress AvenueAustin
  3. Camp Bowie BoulevardFort Worth
  4. The Galveston SeawallGalveston

The company’s own advertisements in the Texas Almanac listed Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, Galveston, Beaumont “and other cities of the South.” Tyler is not among them; its Thurber brick is in the National Register’s records instead.11

Notes

Every source is listed on Sources and methods.

  1. Note 1. According to the National Register nomination, brick paving in Tyler began in 1906 with railroad crossings paved in red brick from Thurber, Texas; the streets around the courthouse followed in 1907, and Oakwood Street from Broadway to the depot in 1908. This is the National Register nomination’s account. Another account dates the first brick streets to around 1912, so the paving is dated here from the early 1900s into the 1940s, with no single start year.

  2. Note 2. Tyler's paving brick came from the Thurber Brick Co. and the Mineral Wells Brick Co., with some from the local Tyler Brick Co., which paving contracts saved from bankruptcy. The sources name the companies only: none we have verified describes maker’s marks on Tyler’s bricks, or how the streets were laid.

  3. Note 3. According to the city's 2000 multiple-property survey, Tyler's first paving began on July 2, 1906, when contractors Allen and Harrison laid red brick from Thurber, Texas, at railroad crossings. The Tyler Morning Telegraph, citing city data in 2015, puts the first brick streets around 1912, so no single start year is given here.

  4. Note 4. Sources disagree on 1907: the Sanborn map of Tyler dated September 1907 says 'streets not paved,' while the 2000 National Register survey and the 2003 Brick Streets nomination say the streets around the courthouse square were paved in 1907 with Mineral Wells brick. Neither source gives a month for the square, so the two may describe different points in 1907. The same 2000 survey dates the first paving, at the railroad crossings, to July 2, 1906.

  5. Note 5. Tyler's streets mix several kinds of old brick: the streets manager counted three types, none still made, in 2015, and the city's Main Street director said in 2025 that four types were in the downtown project area alone.

  6. Note 6. Thurber's brick plant in Erath County, about 75 miles west of Fort Worth, opened in 1897, began making vitrified paving brick in 1898, made only pavers by 1911, and closed around 1930–31. The closing date is approximate: sources give 1930 (the Handbook of Texas, Tarleton’s Gordon Center) or 1931 (the state marker, Tarleton’s Industrious Historian).

  7. Note 7. Demand for brick paving fell as cities chose cheaper asphalt, and the Thurber brick plant closed after the 1929 crash: in 1931 according to the state marker and Tarleton's Industrious Historian, in 1930 according to the Handbook of Texas and Tarleton's Gordon Center.

  8. Note 8. The state marker at Thurber says manager W. K. Gordon persuaded company president R. D. Hunter to build the brick plant in 1897; it began with three Ross-Keller presses driven by a Corliss steam engine nicknamed 'Old Hunter,' covered five acres and employed 800 men.

  9. Note 9. The Thurber plant opened as the Green and Hunter Brick Company and was making 30,000 bricks a day by November 1897; a Tarleton history later puts output at a reported 80,000 bricks a day. The two daily figures likely describe different years; neither source says when 80,000 was reached.

  10. Note 10. The 1994 state marker at the Thurber brick plant site says Thurber brick paved roads throughout Texas, including the old Bankhead Highway (U.S. 80), Austin's Congress Avenue, Fort Worth's Camp Bowie Boulevard and the Galveston Seawall.

  11. Note 11. Thurber's ads in the Texas Almanac said its paving brick was used in Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, Galveston, Beaumont 'and other cities of the South.' The list does not name Tyler; Tyler’s use of Thurber brick comes from the National Register documents.