: i l - THK HKRAL.U. Mon .-Sept 21. ItfBl ''‘The bricks themselves are the kiln. The color and sur- .face texture depends on where the bricks are located. The. closer to the heat, the dafker and rougher they are.” • Brickyard owner Richard Hossman f Bricks Rain today and tonight Manchester, Conn. Maine yard still makes them the old way — See page 2 Tuesday. Sept. 22, 1981 25 Cents brick tor this museum,” Moore “ In fact we’re trying to take a By Charles W. Goldsmith “ That skovetype method’s been out of favor for many years said. ,“ We were fortunate to find giant step backwards by going IfflanrhrfitFr UPl Reporter in this country due to high labor this brickyard. back to roto-tilling the clay NORTH YARMOUTH, Maine costs and lack of uniformity,” "This type of brick was univer­ before it’s dug out.” (UPI) — Members of the said Gilbert Robinson, who sal back in the colonial days,” he Horse-drawn plows dug up prestigious I.M. Pei architec­ teaches ceramic engineering at said. “ We feel the museum Royal River clay before the tural firm were shocked that 1.5 Clemson University in South should fit into the neighborhood backhoe made its debut. < million bricks could be churned Carolina. and this type of brick is predomi­ And the brickyard’s “ head In stripped-down version out each year at the ancient But the uniqueness of each nant in the older buildings in burner’' Patrick Anderson has Royal River Brick Co. brick is Royal River’s trademark Portland.” seen little change at the plant But the architects specially in today’s field of historic preser­ The bricks — measuring 7% in­ since he first fired up the kilns ordered 500,000 "waterstruck” vation. ches by 2‘A inches by 3% inches some 23 years ago. bricks from Royal River’s wood- Bricks located in the kiln’s — are faithfully fired up six times "It just gets in your blood, I heated 'skovetype" kiln, for a base — the "bench" — haye the a year, in the warmer months of guess,” said Anderson, taking major art museum project. jagged edges and mixed amber May through November. All fired bricks off the recently Some 100,000 bricks were hues found in many colonial operations are outside. cooled kiln and onto wooden - delivered for Boston's Fanueil structures. Bricks farther away Bricks are stacked so the kiln pallets for packaging. GOP will seek Hall Marketplace revival, and 2,- from the heat — in the "first has 12 arches at the base, each “ I went down to the Longfellow 500 went into restoration work at toss" and "second toss" —'are 24-inches wide, where some 30 House after they 'd completed the . the Portland boyhood home of more uniform. cords of wood and 12,000 gallons work there and I couldn't even poet Henry Wadsworth “ Thev’re called the ‘tosses’ of oil are inserted for each firing pick out the bricks we sent them Longfellow. because bricks used to be tossed period. from the old ones,” he said. "It Bricks made by Royal River's in place from wheelbarrows," "W e’re definitely a real part of just makes you feel good." time-tested process are singed Hossman said. Americana,” Hossman laughed. with the full spectrum of fire The brickyard now has later bond vote itself — the crimsons, auburns semimodern conveyor wires to and burnt siennas not found in transport the blocks from By Paul Hendrie In effect, this would block acquisi­ modifications." mass-produced bricks fired un­ molding site to kiln — but little Herald Reporter tion of Cheney Hall, but would still Smith said the Republicans der controiled heating con­ has changed since operations allow money for the Great Lawn. caucused Monday night and are in Republican members of the Board ditions. began overlooking the winding But Smith said Republicans op­ complete agreement on the Workers lay out wet clay bricks onto drying boards as they of Directors tonight will ask that the So the weathered-iooking Royal River at the turn of the pose this suggestion because they proposal. The Democrats do not come from mold. $2 million Cheney Historic District bricks — models ranging from century. believe it will only further confuse appear so united. bond issue be pulled off the "rough antique” to "towne house Clay is tossed into a "pugmiH” the voter. He said the advantage of a Democrat Jarnes R. McCavanagh November ballot and, instead, be blend" — are much in demand by and dropped onto a "mudbelt" January referendum would be the also sent out a call for a January DPI photos replaced with a stripped-down $700,- people seeking to match for delivery into the “ roll- extra time it would allow for all the election, instead of the November 000 bond question to be placed on the cen tu ries-old brickw ork in crusher” — which grinds up un­ facts to come out. election and Barbara B. Weinberg Jan. 12 special election ballot. restoration projects. wanted rocks and pebbles. “ The voters need time to fully called for a second referendum The Jan. 12 special election has The southern Maine bricks are The antique molds are then slid digest the issue,” he said. “ This will after the November one, if it cannot been called to fill the late U.S. Rep. individually struck in water- into a "brick machine," and a allow more time for questions to be be removed from the ballot. Town William R. Cotter’s seat. soaked molds and fired for a workman called the "slicker" answered. It allows the politicians Clerk Edward J. Tomkiel said last Under the Republican proposal, week over wood and oil in a kiln slides a long knife over the and the voters to evaluate the announced this morning by Town constructed of 265,000 rectangles. mold’s edge to remove excess answers. We may want I’lrasc tu rn 1<> page 8 Committee Vice Chairman Curtis "The bricks themselves are the clay. M. Smith, plans to acquire Cheney kiln," explained Royal River Six bricks at a time are taken Hall and the Great Lawn and a $100,- owner Richard Hossman. "The out of the molds and dumped onto 000 contingency would be removed color and surface texture wooden planks, which are placed from the proposal. depends on where the bricks are on drying racks for at least a This would leave just the $700,000 located. The closer to the heat, week before placement onto the Ex-employees needed to make street repairs and the darker and rougher they kiln. public improvements in the Cheney are.” "The I.M. Pei people at first Historic District. Hossman, 34, grew attached to couldn’t believe we really made Smith said the .public im­ bricks while working after bricks here," said Hossman’s provements would allow the private college as a mason on the wife Roberta, who mixed mortar conversions of the two Cheney Mill Strawberry Banke restoration for her husband in his masonry note Bon Ami's buildings to rental housing to go project in Portsmouth, N.H., days. ahead. helping to preserve many 18th 'The Pei architects ordered the But he said the voter confusion century houses. half-million bricks for a $12 caused by linking the housing to "W e searched all over New million expansion of the Portland acquisition of Cheney Hall and the England and then got some Museum of Art, designed by the Great Lawn would be eliminated. 95th birthday bricks from this yard and you firm and slated for completion in " He' said the confusion could under­ couldn’t tell the difference 1983. mine the project. between the old bricks and the "The Pei people were walking It became apparent last week that By Barbara Richmond attending the anniversary party new bricks,” he said. around in the muddy clay in their the $2 million proposal was in trou­ Herald Reporter Monday are residents of Manchester "And most of those chimneys three-piece suits and patent- ble, owing to opposition to tl"' and Rockville. It was a happy reunion for former in Portsmouth had never been leather shoes,’’ said Mrs. Herald photo by Tarquinlo expenditure of town money on Also attending and co-hosting was employees of the Bon Ami Co. as touched since the 1740s,” said Hossman. “ It was really a Cheney Hall. Gordon Beaham, owner of _thj they gathered in the building Hossman, who bought the scream ." The Cheney Historic Commission Faultless Starch Co. of Kansas City, formerly occupied by the company brickyard in 1977. Architect Preston Moore, a Getting ready for fall last Thursday called on the Board of Mo., which bought the Bon Ami Co. on Hiiliard Street in observance of It costs a pretty penny to get partner in the Pei firm, said Directors to pass an ordinance in 1971. Beaham said they have the firm’s 95th anniversary. that 1740s look these days. Royal selection of Royal River bricks restricting borrowing for the started again to manufacture the Hosting the party Monday were River Bricks sell for $324 per came after months of research. Area residents are preparing to fall Into is even getting an early start on winter by Cheney project to $1 million, even if cakes of Bon Ami and are still using Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bell, who thousand, compared to about $215 "We wanted not only the autumn when the change of seasons occurs putting snow tires on his car. voters approve the $2 million bond the original recipe, which is mostly bought the building and operate the per thousand, at modern fac­ texture, but the color and quality Workmen disassemble the cooled, 300,000-brick kiln.