Rare Antique Brick - 100 Years Old - Graves Brick Company (Grade A, Birmingham, AL Text)

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About Rare Antique Brick - 100 Years Old - Graves Brick

When these bricks were produced the average household American family brought home $1,500 a year. These bricks were used primarily for road projects in the South East. Back then they were produced for just $18 per 1000 bricks. Because of their use in roads most were not salvageable, causing any intact bricks to be very rare today. Most have been discarded as they transitioned from brick pavers to traditional road systems we have today. This is a unique opportunity to own a piece of American history and nostalgia. Either to be collected or used in your design as an accent and conversation piece. History The Graves Brick Company was organized by William H. Graves in the early twentieth century. A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Graves earned a law degree at the College of William and Mary, and returned to Tennessee to open a law firm. After the Civil War, he moved to Montgomery, Alabama and then relocated to Birmingham, in 1890. Graves maintained his law practice and invested in real estate. Soon, he began constructing buildings for investment and on speculation, and organized a brick company to supply materials for those projects. The City of Birmingham’s street paving program offered additional opportunities in the manufacturing of vitrified bricks. By 1901, Graves had organized the Graves Shale Brick Company. Over the following two decades, he also organized the Graves-Matthews Paving Company and the Graves-Gunster Paving Company, both with men who married his daughters. H. S. Matthews briefly served as general manager for the brick and paving businesses before moving to Florida. By 1915, the Graves Company had sold millions of bricks, both the common type for use in the construction of buildings and vitrified type for street and road construction. Eventually, Graves combined the brick and paving businesses, which he closed about 1920. By then, Graves was among the most prominent attorneys and property owners in Birmingham.