Atlantic Brick Manufacturing Company

[GermanG]

I had reason to drive by the site of the Atlantic Brick Manufacturing Co., in Mays Landing today and noticed the large stacks from the brickworks were gone. I pulled into the adjacent commercial lot and explored the site and found fresh equipment tracks on the newly graded site and nothing but rubble and scattered, mostly broken, bricks. I always meant to explore that site and photograph the ruins but I guess I waited too long. It’s quite a shame the stacks couldn’t be preserved. They would have served as an impressive monument to this once important enterprise.

 

[Teegate]

Sorry to hear that.

Guy

 

[Boyd]

Wow, that must have just happened. I drive past there all the time, and have junk stored at Atlantic Storage Solutions which is right across the road. Seems to me there has been a for sale sign there for a number of years, so maybe someone finally purchased the property.

Too bad...

 

[lakesgirl]

after driving by there a million times, we finally stopped to explore the area abit a few months ago. so glad we did. we too, were surprised to see the stack gone and the land cleared. it is a shame when places like these get wiped away.

the kiln looked like it was used by kids as a party place...alot of trash inside.

 

[Boyd]

the kiln looked like it was used by kids as a party place...alot of trash inside.

Drove past yesterday and it has indeed been bulldozed and cleared all the way to the road. I'll bet that is why also... maybe the owners were worried about liability.

 

[gipsie]

I go by there about 2-3 times a week. The stacks are definitely gone but some of the mounds remain. I stopped and asked the constuction workers why they were taking down all the brickworks but not leveling the ground and they had no idea. They are basically just doing what they are told.....

I am going to miss those ruins. I went out there the first time with a friend of mine. I IMMEDIATELY climbed down into one of the stacks and saw how impressive it was. I sat there and told her how she had to come in and see..and imagine...and she was resistant at first. Somehow, I talked her into it and when she finally came in, she just stood up, looked up and said..."Holy S***"". It was the BEST experience.

There was actually a hole in one of the furnaces that someone graffitted up and marked "The Shire". It was wrong to mark it up, but it set the tone AND WAS JUST PERFECT! It looked like it was supposed to be exactly that!

 

[Mts83]

Its sad to hear the old stacks were taken down, to give an idea of how old they were... the Weymouth Papermill had only been closed 5 years when those old stacks went up. Additonally, it was that kiln that provided the bricks to build many of the great old Atlantic City hotels around the turn of the century. Another piece of local history lost... I guess for a hint of whats to come, just take a drive down Old Egg Harbor Rd (not far from there) and witness the failed developments with siding being blown off now abandoned ("new") houses in clearcut fields. Its disgusting with whats been happening in most of that area between 40 and 322.

 

[Boyd]

Well to be fair, that forsale sign is still there and it's looking very weather beaten. If some group had wanted to preserve the site, they might have been able to purchase it at a good price. Unfortunately, this isn't the right economy for that kind of thing I guess.

 

[GermanG]

Bricks from that works were also used at the Bethlehem Loading Company. Bricks at the ruins of the powerplant are labeled as such and I imagine other structures there were built from them as well. I actually learned of the existence of the brickworks after researching the brands on the powerplant bricks, well before I even knew where the brickworks ruins were.

 

[Kevinhooa]

Stacks

Yeah, a friend just told me about that. It really sucks, but like what's been said, nobody has any money for preservation right now. I think they should have just put a fence around it with a sign explaining it's history like so many other sites we have, but I'm sure even that, would have been too expensive. At least it's not all gone, one building, a small rectangle shack, was completely restored when the office park went in. I'm not sure of it's age offhand, but at least it's still there. As for the drying kilns, it was only going to be a matter of time until they all collapsed. When I was there it looked like 3 had already caved in in the past, and the 3 remaining were not in great shape either. I read a ton of the bricks they made went into the Treymore (spelling?) hotel in AC too. I remember going there before the office park was made and the concrete drying tunnels were pretty neat. There used to be a huge boiler in the back of the property that was always neat to check out as well. I'll try and scan some old pics in if I can. Here's a link to the last set of pictures I shot there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinhooa/sets/72157603562701023/

 

[Boyd]

Those are great Kevin, thanks for posting them. Now I'm sad that I never took the time to explore that place which I have driven past so many times.

 

[buckykattnj]

When I was there it looked like 3 had already caved in in the past, and the 3 remaining were not in great shape either.

You're not the first person I've heard talk about collapsed stacks... but from the research I read about, their where only ever two main stacks... that each stack had 4 kilns attached to it, for a total of 8 kilns.

Any other stacks I read about seemed either fairly minor or had been demolished when the brick works was still operational.

Anyone have more information as to how many stacks really were here?

BKNJ

 

[gipsie]

"Stolen" from another website

http://www.njpinelandsanddownjersey...ntManager_op=viewDocument&JAS_Document_id=255



Some great history there!

 

[gipsie]

Photo of layout

 

[Kevinhooa]

You're not the first person I've heard talk about collapsed stacks... but from the research I read about, their where only ever two main stacks... that each stack had 4 kilns attached to it, for a total of 8 kilns.

Any other stacks I read about seemed either fairly minor or had been demolished when the brick works was still operational.

Anyone have more information as to how many stacks really were here?

BKNJ

Sorry, I was talking about the kilns. I'm guessing the stacks would have eventually fell, but they looked to be in pretty good shape. The kilns were really bad.