Founded in 1891 when Peter W. Schneider acquired a samll hand-operated plant.
St. Joe Brick Works, Inc. has been under continuous family operations for 106 years. This
plant located 40 miles north of New Orleans is the oldest family brick manufacturers east
of the Mississippi River making colonial moulded face brick using wood moulds.
St. Joe Brick Works, Inc. is one of only a very few brick plants
that uses the soft-mud process of making brick in which the clay is formed into individual
bricks in a wooden mould as was done in the early colonial period. It is so unique in its
color and texture characteristics that architects have specified its use in many areas as
distant as Massachusetts, New York, Northern Michigan, and Minnesota. It has been used
extensively by the Bell Telephone System, Rice University of Houston, and Texas
Instruments of Dallas. Many churches and architectually designed structures have been
constructed with this material because of its characteristic aging qualities, although
more modern buildings such as the Savannah Hilton in Georgia, The Hockaday School, Pan
American University, St. Luke's of Houston, Broward Mental Hospital, of Hallendale,
Florida, the Heyman Oil Center in Lafayette, Louisiana, and the Botantical Gardens at
Atlanta.
We continue today to make what we always have, a good honest
brick, full in dimension and character, no coatings to hide our naturally beautiful rich
shades of color, no holes that would keep our brick from being truly versatile, as a brick
should be. St. Joe Brick Works, Inc. woodmoulds can be used for both exterior and interior
pavers, and for walls with character in any architectual scheme. They have been
appreciated and used by each generation of architects for over a century.
The much sought after New Orleans "Hard Tan" and "Soft Red" Used Brick
coming from
demolished structures in New Orleans today were originally manufactured at St. Joe Brick
Works, Inc. and other St. Tammany Parish brick yards in existence before and after the
turn of the century.
We plan to continue to serve the construction industry in the
southeast at the turn of the next century.