The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956 Page: 174
587 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
ers of 1880, though there had been a painting "factory" in Grayson
County in 186o and six were listed for the state in 1870. By 188o
the number of factories had grown to twenty-five, the number of
hands employed had increased from ten to ninety-two, and the
gross income of the industry had rocketed from $6,0ooo in 1870
to $167,000 in 1880." The manufacture of brick had enjoyed a
less phenomenal rise. In 1860, $18,ooo worth of brick had been
made, much of it in Gonzales, Rusk, and Travis counties. Ten
years later the industry had grossed nearly ten times as much and
ranked among the top fifteen (15/12), with McLennan and
Harris counties in the lead. In 188o Limestone joined the leaders
to help push Texas brick production toward the half-million
mark and into the ranks of the top ten (10/5) manufacturing
enterprises in the state. The growth of these two industries sug-
gests that many Texans who had moved out of their log cabins into
frame dwellings in 1870 were by 188o either dressing up the old
places or building even more substantial homes. The state even
supported a factory which made nothing but ornamental and
architectural ironwork.47
The production of iron itself had interested Texans for years,
but most projects to develop the state's known limonite deposits
died a-borning. During the Civil War, under the pressure of great
need, a few rude puddling furnaces were set up, but managers
and laborers alike were novices. Boiler accidents and "chilling"
soon put most of these furnaces out of business. One of the more
successful attempts during the Civil War was that of Dr. Charles
G. Young, a New Englander who had settled in Louisiana in 1838
and who moved his slaves into Texas in 1861. Young organized
his smeltery in Cherokee County in 1863, employed seventy-five
white men and several hundred Negroes, and operated in connec-
tion with the foundry a sawmill, a brickyard, and a large store
stocked with goods brought by wagon-train from Galveston and
Matamoros. A boiler accident and a jayhawker raid on his store
wrote finis to the enterprise soon after the end of the war. Of
4eU. S. Census, r88o, II, 189-190; U. S. Census, z86o, II, 584, 594; U. S. Census,
x87o, III, 574. The occupational census listed 5 paperhangers and 986 painters and
varnishers for the state. U. S. Census, x88o, I, 773.
47U. S. Census, 186o, II, 580-591, 594; U. S. Census, x870, III, 573-574, 735-736; U. S.
Census, r88o, II, 189-190, 369-371. A brick home or store in Texas in 188o had the
prestige value of a Cadillac in 1950o.174
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 59, July 1955 - April, 1956, periodical, 1956; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101162/m1/192/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.