‘Legacy’ Brewer brick maker closes
After 110 years in business, the Brewer-based Brooks Brick Co. called it a day on Friday — as competition from brick suppliers out of state, lack of demand from homeowners, budget cutbacks for school facilities and an aging workforce of masons has cut demand for bricks.
The closing of Brooks is the end of a legacy business in the Penobscot County city, David Hanna of the Brewer Historical Society told the Bangor Daily News. At its peak in the 1870s, the city was home to 18 yards that produced 11 million bricks each year — and the bricks that came out of the city were widely renowned for their quality and color.
“Brewer bricks were the standard of excellence throughout the construction industry,” Ernie Heins, manager of Brooks Bricks for its Auburn parent company Morin Brick, told the BDN.
Heins told the BDN that although the brickyard ceased making bricks in 1956, it still remained in business selling construction materials like bricks, slate, cement and mortars produced elsewhere to masons and contractors across the state and greater New England.
The popularity of homes being primarily built out of wood, aside from the occasional renovation of fireplaces or chimneys, combined with the slowing demand of repairs for school facilities from budget cutbacks has slowed the demand for bricks.
The dwindling number of skilled masons was also a large contribution to the slowing demand. Heins told the BDN that the intense labor, time investment and training have dissuaded younger people from getting into the masonry business.
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