Minnesota’s Last Brickyard - Ochs Brick & Tile Company of Springfield, Minnesota

Despite having hundreds of brickyards through the years, the last Minnesota brickyard closed in 2016. This brickyard, which was located in Springfield, began as the A. C. Ochs Brick & Tile Company in 1891. Adolph Casimir Ochs died in 1940, but the company continued in the family until it was purchased by the Acme Brick Company in 2008. The Acme-Ochs plant remained in operation until 2016, when it was listed for sale. See the abandoned grounds of Minnesota’s last brickyard with its the original clay pit, an old beehive kiln, and what remains in 2023 of this once thriving brickyard.
Check out my website: www.mnbricks.com/
Minnesota brick memorabilia: www.mnbricks.c...

[@tfishing8320]

Who makes bricks today? See many varieties in the mega home stores. Are there similar deposits of clay in the area? Was the demise of the company a lack of raw material or a changed marketplace? Thanks for responding to questions. I am so intrigued by your sense of history and dedication to a personal passion. Sharing is a dedication in its own right, but the effort is definitely appreciated.

[@morg52]

There's a brick making factory in Hebron North Dakota. I have a souvenir bricklet from a bicycle tour called CANDISC when we stayed a night there.

[@pepejuan781]

Buen trabajo. Good job.

[@tapertim]

It’s a shame what’s happened to American businesses soon all will be gone own nothing and be happy

[@ericmappes3977]

You should do a video on Laura Ingalls Wilder. She lived in Walnut Grove, Mn. Then headed west to South Dakota, T.

[@dennishayes65]

I bought bricks here back in the late 1990s & bricked up a window opening on the old nursing home in Tracy, Mn. I think I bought about 90 brick & hauled them back on a 6’x10’ trailer. They were very good bricks. To bad they’re closed now. They matched really well to the existing bricks. The old nursing home is now an apartment building.

[@nailbender7223]

Most house's of the 80's had brick or some sort and often masonery fire place fully bricked, grew less and less and i think after 2006 or so now rarely see brick, it's all so called phony stone now. Sad. I remember the ochs brick trucks delivering out of the eden prairie yard

[@edwardstd52]

Wow... More than a few dollars worth of bricks still in inventory! It looks like everyone just put down their tools and walked away. 😢 BTW - How many wood ticks did you pick up during that stroll through the weeds? 😅

[@markbrittell2001]

They certainly have a lot of bricks left there.