University of Illinois at Springfield Norris L Brookens Library Archives/Special Collections Poston Brick Company Memoir P846. Poston Brick Company Interview and memoir 5 tapes, 240 mins., 78 pp. The narrators discuss personnel, machines, operations and types of bricks manufactured at the Poston Brick Company in Springfield. Narrators also discuss working conditions, hazards, co-workers, and the structures located on the factory grounds. Interviews by Garnetta Cook, 1972 OPEN: see individual names for legal release See individual collateral files : interviewer's notes, photos of factory, photocopies of articles about the factory, list of buildings built with the company's bricks, and background notes. Archives/Special Collections LIB 144 University of Illinois at Springfield One University Plaza, MS BRK 140 Springfield IL 62703-5407 © 1972, University of Illinois Board of Trustees ! ' • Poston Brick Company Ivory Carter (23 pages) Estol Cook (11 pages) Mark Cook (14 pages) William E. Poston ( 4 pages) Earl Robinson (10 pages) Henrietta Van Cleve ( 4 'pages) These interviews are part of a project on the Poston Brick Company in Springfield, Illinois. People interviewed include a former employee's wife, former employees, and the president of Poston Brick. They relate their working experiences with regard to making bricks. The interviewer was Garnetta Cook. COPYRIGHT@ 1985 SANGAMON STATE UNIVERSITY, SPRINGFIELD, ILUNOIS. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Oral History Office, Sangamon State University, Springfield, Illinois 62708. Table of Gantents 'lhe Pond • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 Introduction of machines • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2 W::n:king with the dryer • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . 4 Tow moters • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5 'lhe setting gang • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 8 The gooseneck. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .10 'lhe turmels. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .11 Office personnel • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .12 'IYPes of bricks. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .13 Buildings made of Poston brick • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .14 Swell bellies. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .16 Setting and meeling gangs • • • • • • • • • • • • • .19 '1)1pes of bricks. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .20 Preface This nmmscript is the product of a tape recorded interview conducted by Ga.metta Cook for the Oral History Office on November 1, 1972. Kathryn Back transcribed the tapes and Susan Jones edited the transcript. Ivory Carter w:~.s employed by the Poston Brick Company of Springfield, Illinois from 1917 to 1962. In this naooir, Mr. Carter describes the different jobs he held at the Poston Brick Company and the changes in the machinery over the years. Mr. Carter also discusses brick tmking and the different kinds of bricks. Readers of the oral history neooir should bear in mind that it is a transcript of the spoken ~rd, and that the intervie\\er, narrator and editor sought to preserve the infonnal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. Sangaoon State University is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the naooir, nor for views expressed therein; these are for the reader to judge. The nmmscript may be read, quoted and cited freely. It may not be reproduced in mole or in part by any maans, electronic or nechanical, without permission in writing fran the Oral History Office, Sangamn State University, Springfield, Illinois, 62708. ------------ --- --------- Ivory Carter, ~ember 1, 1972, Springfield, Illinois. Ga.metta Cook, Intervieler. Q: Today we're going to have an interview with Mr. Ivory Carter, a long-tin:e employee of Poston Brick Caupany. Mr. Carter has lived in Springfield for many years. He has a lot of experience with the brick company, and I think he CBil give us a lot of information. A: I started at Poston's in about 1917 hauling brick away fran Poston Brick Caupany. And then, when I first started to ¥X>rking at the plant, it ~s at the Springfield Paving Brickyard, and then in 1928, Mr. Poston bought the Springfield Paving Brickyard and brought us all 011er to his yard. I worked there for the rest of my days except I had one other job in 1937. I 'ietlt to the city and worked from 1937 to 1939, and I went back to the brickyard. '!hat's mere I put the rest of my time in, at Poston Brick Caupany. Q: lbw long -were you there? A: tell, I started out there 1917 and I ¥JJrked there until 1962; that's when I had the heart attack. That was my last ¥X>rk that I ever did. (laughter) Vhat is that, Estol telling on ne? Q: \ell, he just asked ne to ask you about the ~nd and the logs, and all. He just mentioned it to me; he thought you d be able to tell us. (laughter) A: ·\Ell, ~er the brickyard or the mill would break dO\!Il, that T,\10Uld stop the setting gang, and then we'd all go to the pond. I had a board, ·and I was on this board, and Harry Mann, and I think Roy Kirby. I couldn't swim and that pon:l ~s deep. But I was riding this board (laughter) and Bob Kennedy--he's dead now--he ~up by me and forced that board out and forced that board aut fran under me, (laughter) and Roy and Harry helped ne get out. W1en I got my feet on to W:tere I could bitch about it, (laughter) I really told Bob Kennedy sooething. (laughter) But that's mat we'd do always menever the brickyard would go dCMl, the whole gang of them. ve 'd have to wait until the uen fixed it back so they could make brick again. So -we'd go down there and get in the pond, and had a lot of fun dom there. That til:Ie, it wasn't fun for ne after they pushed that board out. (laughter) Q: Did you ever go back after that? A: Yes, I -went back, rut I didn It go back on the board no mre. I didn It get DllCh deeper than my knees, rut this tin:e I was way out in there and riding this ooard. Oh, I was really deep, going along on ~s Ivory Carter 2 board, b.lt men Bob slipped up behind and p.lShed this board out fran under ne, that let ne dow:1. That -was part of this shale hole; that pond was deep at one time. Estol: [Ga.metta Cook's luJsband] I imagine it was thirty, forty feet deep. A: Yes, f?<lery bit of it and them pushing that board out frcm ne and I couldn't swim. (laughter) I don't kncM. I seen a lot of different things there and then they got, I think it was in the 1950s or the late 1940s that's rAl.en they got the machines. They got one set of machines and they dido' t w:>rk, and they sent than back. 'Ihen they got the second set of machines and they dido 't w:>rk. They sent than back. And ~en they got the third set of machines, Mr. Poston said the tmchines 'WaS w:>rking at other brickyards and they ~re going to w:>rk there. And he never did ewe to the brickyard until around nine o'clock in the IIDming. But when he got the third set of machines, he caue out there at Bf?<len o'clock, just like ~ ~ started. Mr. Poston maybe \ilOUld be 011er here, Olarlie McCoy w:>uld be over here, Pat Turley 'WOuld be over here. Every way you w:>uld look, you w:ruld breathe d.ol.on one of their throats. And they did that for about ~ veeks until they got their production that they wmted and then that was it. He said they were going to llt'Ork and they did. And I stayed on the DBChine from 1952 until 1962, until I got sick. E: Can I ask him sooething? \<bat did you uean that they llt'Ouldn' t w:>rk? A: \Ell, here's what I think, the rren knew that their machiries was going to knock sooebody out, mi.ch they did, because, see, I was in the meeling gang then, and they had three five-man wheeling gangs. W1en they got these machines, they got 0.0 machines; they give ne one and they give Carrpbell Smith one. They give Carq>bell a helper and rre a helper. That was four m:m did mre ~rk than fifteen m:m did. '!hen., in the setting gang; t\tlO 11E1 did the \tlOrk that blelve t1E1 did with one machine. W!!ll, the 11E'l, I'm sure they knew T.tla.t them machines \ere going to do. Q: Wlat type machines ~re these? A: Tow motor machines, tow motors. E: They knew they was going to knock them out, so they just decided they • • • A: Yes, that they wasn't going to w:>rk with them, and they dido 't for the first tl«l' rut When they got •the third one' my, every t:i.ne they looked up, they W!iB looking at a b::>ss 's face and they had to \tlO:rk. That went on and they did that for about ~ ~eks and after that' my' that was all. E: \ell, then, what did they do, lay the m:m off? A: Sale of than got laid off, yes, because they didn't need all that croo. It looked like we had fifteen rren \\heeling brick and four mm Ivory Carter 3 did IlDre than the fifteen ~uld, with a tow tootor. That's one of the things that the ~ knew what it was going to do and that's the reason my they didn't 'Want to -w:>rk with them.