Can St. Louis Keep Its Bricks After Tornado?
Date Posted: June 10, 2025
Posted In: Discussion,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Beyond immediate needs tied to shelter and safety, preservation experts and local officials say they’ve heard a common refrain in the aftermath of last month’s deadly tornado that ravaged parts of St. Louis, bringing down multiple brick structures:
What’s going to become of all that brick from damaged buildings — and how can the city save the material that’s a distinct symbol of St. Louis pride and identity from landfills and potential larceny?
“We’re one of the few truly brick cities in the country,” said Alderman Michael Browning of the 9th Ward. “It speaks to the character of the city. That’s a character we want to preserve.”
On May 16 an EF3 tornado cut across the city from the Central West End and into north St. Louis neighborhoods of historic red brick homes, like Fountain Park, killing five people. Homes and buildings were toppled by the storm, leaving rooms without walls or roofs, and creating mountains of brick, lumber and more.
St. Louis’ strong brick heritage stretches back well over a century — or even to past millennia, in a geological sense. The local abundance of clay provided the material that industrialists like the Hydraulic Press Brick Co. converted into untold volumes of brick, starting in the 1800s.
From its St. Louis hub, the company grew to become the world’s biggest brick producer, and created what “came to be known as the perfect brick” with a red tinge, said Will Quam, a Chicago-based architecture expert who leads brick-related tours, and will visit St. Louis to give a talk about bricks later this month.
“When you think of this platonic ideal of a brick, you’re picturing a brick made in St. Louis by the Hydraulic Press Brick Co.,” he said. “St. Louis was the real epicenter of brick fashion in the late 19th century.”
Bricks can take on different hues and characteristics, based on local geology where their clay is harvested. For example, bricks from Chicago and Milwaukee are distinctly lighter in color than those made here.