Ruins all that remain of Milton brickyard

Tucked away and almost hidden in the woods along Round Pole Bridge Road near Milton are the remnants of several brick buildings. Those structures are all that remain of a once-thriving brickyard from around the turn of the 20th century.

Milton Historical Society board member Phil Martin shared research into the brickmaking operations in a 2016 post on his Broadkill Blogger website. He said many of the red-orange-colored bricks found in buildings throughout Milton can be directly linked to the brick factories that operated around Milton more than a century ago.

Operations purportedly began about 1887 and continued in some form until the 1930s.

An 1899 article in The Evening Journal reported R.C. Beardsley and John Smith of Houston worked together to manufacture bricks at Simpson Landing on the Broadkiln (Broadkill River). Another article from 1899 reported on Beardsley’s progress and hope that his 110,000 bricks would be of better quality than those that came before.

“Heretofore brickmaking near Milton has been a failure, from some cause, perhaps insufficient burning. In many pavements in town, there are spaces or holes where the bricks that were softer than others are worn away. These resemble improvised spittoons, and should be repaired, as they are dangerous to pedestrians, particularly those who have small ankles that are easily wrenched,” the article said.

In 1901, the Board of Trade in Milton submitted a short article to The Clay-Worker, a trade publication that was published until 1933. In it, the board called the attention of the trade to valuable clay deposits in the Milton area.

“Recent examinations have disclosed the fact that the quality of the clay is unexcelled for brickmaking purposes, as well as other claywares,” the article stated. “They are endeavoring to secure parties to establish a plant, and will render all possible assistance in formulating the project.”

A selling point for a brickyard in Milton was the location’s proximity to the Queen Anne’s Railroad, which ran through Milton, connecting Maryland’s Eastern Shore with Lewes, and the Broadkill River, which could be used to ship product outside the state.

An update was provided in the 1903 edition of The Clay-Worker. By that time, the operation was run by R.C. Beardsley and Alfred H. Lofland.

“We commenced operations at our present location in July 1902. We have very fine clay for making good, hard, red brick. It runs 15 feet deep. We have about 65 acres of this clay.”

This is presumably the brickyard on Round Pole Bridge Road, which was once named Brickyard Road.

At Beardsley and Lofland’s brickyard, clay was removed from the mine by cable with a winding drum. From there, it was run through a disintegrator. An open-air drying outfit and clamp kilns produced a quality product. The average market price was $7.50 per load.

“The burning we attend to ourselves, and therefore when a mistake is made, we know who to lay it on,” the article’s author wrote.

According to Martin’s research, Beardsley became ill shortly after the operation began and had sold off his stake in the business by 1904. Beardsley also operated a sawmill in the area and served on the Milton Board of Education. About 1904, he also sold his other businesses in Milton and moved to a farm in Townsend. He lived until 1919.

Lofland got into business with his brother, Trusten, who returned to Milton from Philadelphia. Trusten died at 83 years old in 1952. Alfred Lofland died at the age of 85 in 1958 while visiting his son in Milford. At the time, he was living in Hollywood, Fla. His wife, Annie, died in 1970. In addition to the Milton venture, Lofland also had the Townsend Brick Company. A 1931 newspaper article reports the granting of the company’s articles of incorporation. In addition to Lofland and his wife, Harley J. Conaway is listed as a member of the company.

Martin’s research found that the manufacture of bricks by Lofland continued long past the parting of ways with Beardsley. He incorporated in 1909 to raise $50,000 capital for expansion, and in 1924 bought a Wilmington brickyard with the capacity to produce 8 million bricks annually. However, the Wilmington Morning News reported in November 1931 that six creditors of Lofland Brick Manufacturing Inc. filed a bankruptcy action in federal court for unpaid debts. The land in Milton was sold at a bankruptcy sale in the early 1930s. 

Another company, Milton Brick Manufacturing Inc., was chartered by the State of Delaware in April 1932; the Loflands were not among the shareholders and officers. The new company was owned by Landreth L. Layton, Halsted P. Layton, and E. Harley Ryan; the Layton family still owns the property under HP Layton Partnership LLC.

In 2010, a 49-unit, upscale single-family home development called Brickyard Landing was proposed for the 52-acre site. At the time, state officials expressed concern about the loss of the brickyard buildings.

“They’re ruined, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not historically important to us,” said Alice Guerrant, a state archaeologist, in a September 2010 News Journal article.

The developer, HP Layton Partnership, agreed to allow an architectural and archaeological study to document the site before it was cleared.

The plan gained preliminary approval from the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission, but commissioners required the brickyard site to be preserved, which resulted in the plan being cut to 37 lots. The development never came to fruition, and the site remains undeveloped today. 

J.H. Wilkerson & Son Brickworks

Another nearby brickworks is on the National Register of Historic Places. The J.H. Wilkerson & Son Brickworks operated from 1912 to 1957 in Milford. The site is off NE Front Street on Wilkerson Terrace behind J.H. Wilkerson & Associates.