Explore an Abandoned Brick Factory near Terre Haute, Indiana
We're all familiar with the saying "they don't make 'em like they used to." That is true about a lot of things, including bricks. Have you ever wondered where bricks come from? I don't know if I've ever really stopped to think about it - I mean, they have to come from somewhere, right?
Nowadays I would imagine most bricks are mass-produced in big factories around the country. But that wasn't always the case. Back in the day, some brick factories looked more like this.
From the look of these pictures, you might assume that this old brick factory hasn't been operational in about 100 years, but that is not the case at all. According to my research, it has been less than ten years since the factory shut down, after operating successfully for more than a century. Now it sits abandoned in Vermillion County, Indiana, on the state's western border between Illinois and the Wabash River, north of Terre Haute.
What's So Special About This Brick Factory?
The factory doesn't appear to be haunted, and as far as I know, there aren't any urban legends associated with it. So why am I writing about it? Well, it's something I've never seen before, and I figure there's a pretty good chance that you haven't either. it's just a big chunk of land with some really neat structures that, for a long time, provided a really unique service. You see, this particular brick factory specialized in creating bricks that were used around the country to repair historic homes and buildings. If you were restoring a building and you needed bricks that would seamlessly blend with the other ornate or specialized bricks, you would turn to a factory like this. In fact, you would probably turn to THIS factory, as it was the last brick maker in the nation to use coal-fired brick kilns.
Big thanks to Kris Cowden for sharing these great pictures on Facebook.