Friends,
These cold winter days have given us a chance to sift through the archives and find some fun facts about local manufacturing. When the Springfield Pillsbury plant was initially built in 1929, they utilized local companies to supply manufacturing products made in Springfield. It was an era in our Springfield history where manufacturing was a bigger part of our local economy.
One of the primary Springfield manufactured goods used in the Pillsbury construction was the locally made Poston brick. 500,000 bricks were purchased to build the plant. An article in the State Journal from May 4, 1930, reads:
The Pillsbury Mill is constructed of Poston brick made in Springfield and sold by Henry Nelch and Son Company. The face brick was burned at the Poston Springfield Brick company especially for the Pillsbury project following the color scheme and texture of other Pillsbury buildings.
After a series of experiments, the company found it could duplicate the dark red face brick samples submitted by the Pillsbury officials. Special treatment of the clay and shale and extreme care in burning were required, however. The bricks were selected and assorted very carefully.
We have recycled over 650 tons of brick at the site since we began demolition activities in 2023. About 500 of these bricks from Warehouse #4 have been engraved and sold as keepsakes.
Illinois Foundry Company, located at 2735 South 11th Street in Springfield (1922-1967) supplied manhole covers and cast-iron hoppers for the plant. They were proud to advertise in the newspaper that they helped supply many items necessary for the construction of the plant. We found and documented one of these manhole covers at the plant late last year. It was fun to see Springfield Illinois stamped on the cover!
Thanks for being a part of this important community project!
~ Team Pillsbury
