Neodesha, KS, MP 401.4 - Verdigris Valley Vitrified Brick and Tile Company (VVVB&T)

Discussion in 'Wichita Subdivision' started by meteor910, Nov 18, 2008.

  1. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Several years ago - early 1980's, while Kurt (son) and I were on a fishing/Frisco-watching trip down in the mid-Ozarks, we stopped by Rolla in hopes of catching some SLSF action and to get a Pryor's pizza. To my horror, I saw that the BN was in the process of tearing down the Rolla depot, my old hangout while a student at MSM.

    The building was a big pile of rubble and they had bulldozed up the brick platform that was between the station and the tracks. The bricks were in a big pile and were being loaded into a truck for disposal. I picked out three good condition bricks from the pile and took them home.

    A year of two later, we had our brick patio in the back of the house redone. I had the bricklayer use my three "Rolla" bricks as part of the patio redo. I have often said that (if I'm well enough lubricated with some adult libation) I can sit out on the patio on a warm summer's night and still hear the 1500's, 4100's, 4300's, 4400's, 4500's, F's, E's, FA's, GP's and SD's parade by in all their Frisco glory. It has to be a quiet night, of course!

    Now to my point ..... two of the bricks are enscribed with the name of their manufacturer across the face of the brick: V.V.V. Brick & T. Co., Neodesha, Kansas.

    Do any of you know anything about this brick company? Do they still exist? Were they directly on the Frisco line or located somewhere else in or around Neodesha? Any pics?

    The third brick has the letters "UCPC" arranged in a diamond logo on the brick. No indication of a location.

    Just curious. They sure did build a good brick - not a chip or mark on them.

    Ken
     
  2. bob_wintle

    bob_wintle Member Frisco.org Supporter

    I have found via google that it was 4.5 miles south of Neodesha on the Mop. I have yet to find out what the V.V.V stood for but if I were guessing I would guess that the words Verdigris and Vitrified are two of them. Verdigris for the nearby river and vitrified for the process used to make the bricks. They are not still in business. I will keep looking for the name.
    Bob Wintle
    Parsons, Ks.
     
  3. FriscoFriend (Bob Hoover RIP 4/12/2018)

    FriscoFriend (Bob Hoover RIP 4/12/2018) Passed Away April 12, 2018 Frisco.org Supporter

    Ken:

    Go out and look at the bricks again and post how the word "Neodesha" is spelled. The correct name of the town is "Neodesha" but when they torn out the depot there some of the bricks either from the walls or the platform bore the name "Noedesha". I still believe I have at least one of them somewhere.

    That part of Kansas was, and still is for that fact, very rich in Limestone and Clay and there were brick plants scattered all over. Also, there were very strange formations called mounds that jutted out of the ground that resembled big hills. There were at least two, both at Neodesha and Fredonia. On the side of one of them in each town was a brick plant.

    Bob Hoover
    FriscoFriend
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 6, 2023
  4. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Bob - Just went out and checked. It's spelled Neodesha on the bricks.

    Ken
     
  5. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Bob & Bob -

    As you suggested, I did a Google search on the V V V Brick & T Co.

    Under the web site for the Rose Brick Yard - where they have pics of a number of bricks posted, I found my V.V.V. Brick & T. Co brick. Same brick, though my two are in much better shape than the brick in the web site pic.

    I also found a pic of a brick with UCPC initials on it, though my brick has them in a diamond logo and is in much better shape than the brick in the web pic. I think I'll send them pics of my bricks.

    Interesting - these bricks, made in Kansas long ago, sat as part of the station platform at the Rolla depot for many, many, many years (maybe I stood on them while Frisco watching during my MSM time), yet wound up as part of my patio because of my attending MSM, my interest in the Frisco RR, and a fishing trip with my son.

    This is an interesting hobby!

    Ken
     
  6. Brad Slone

    Brad Slone Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Ken,

    Unfortunately there is next to nothing left of the sidings or structures in the Rolla area that where around during the time of the Frisco. But at least 1501 is still in descent shape and you can still get a Pryors pizza!

    Brad
     
  7. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Thanks Brad. I was in Rolla mid-April (4/17-4/18/08) for a series of Academy of Chemical Engineers meetings at Mo S&T. Before the meetings started, I spent as much time as I had available with the Frisco in Rolla and Newburg, and with my old friend 1501. And, yes, I enjoyed a Pryor's pizza for lunch!

    Pryor's has their original (early 1960's) price list mounted on the wall in their dining room. It reminded me that I used to be able to get a large pepperoni pizza and a coke for just under $2. A true place for Miners on a skimpy budget! They were in the original trolley car up on US 63N then - in the shadow of the water tank, next to a Shell station. The tank is still there but the station is long gone. Years ago, after a brief stay somewhere downtown, they moved to their present location on US 63S. They still serve a great pizza! Mr. Pryor is long gone, unfortunately

    The attached pic (*) from that visit is of the former Rolla depot site, looking toward St Louis. Look what they did to my neat Rolla depot !!! The V.V.V. platform bricks I'm talking about in this thread were located somewhere in the foreground to the right, just out of this pic, close to the tracks. The siding you see is likely the station track that went behind the northeast side of the depot, which the BN left in place for some reason.

    Ken

    (*) The system won't let me attach that pic again. See my posting of April 21, 2008, "Trip to Rolla/Newburg". It's the second pic, the one looking at a bridge.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 19, 2008
  8. Helen

    Helen Member

    I have some of these bricks. I live in Needles, California, in a house which was built by the Santa Fe RR in 1885. It was built for the first full-time trainmaster, a man with the last name of "Kelly". About 2 years ago my husband was putting in some irrigation in the backyard. While digging a trench, about 8-10 inches underneath the lawn, my husband heard a "thunk" when his shovel hit something (he thought it was a large rock). What he began to unearth was an entire walkway made of these bricks. They were all about 8 inches underneath the present day lawn, and they led from the back of the house to where the outhouse would have been when the house was built. I finally entered the inscribed info from the brick into Google today, and your group and discussion came up. Small world, huh?
     
  9. TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020)

    TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020) Passed Away July 15, 2020 Frisco.org Supporter

    I also have a "railroad" brick. It's down in my garage as a door stop. I forget the exact wording, but it's a "Coffeyville" brick. From the plant in that town. It came from the M-K-T depot platform at Itasca, Texas. Seems that town moved their depot to a location away from the tracks for a town museum. The bricks were part of the old platform and not moved, just left it in a pile. A neat thing, the brick has a smear of yellow paint, same color as the depot.

    Tom
     
  10. gbnf

    gbnf Member

    I'm guessing UCPC stands for United Clay Products Company.

    "The three "V"s correspond to Vertigris Valley Vitrified"

    http://brickcollector.blogspot.com/2009/05/v-v-v.html

    ------

    From a 1918 bio of John Wilson Bogue, " mayor of Neodesha, and president and manager of the V. V. V. Brick and Tile Company, one of the city's leading and growing industries."

    "The offices of this company are situated in the Hale Building, while the plant is located 4 1/2 miles south of Neodesha on the Missouri Pacific Railway. The product of the plant is facing brick, the capacity being 40,000 daily, in the manufacture of which forty men are employed. From a modest beginning the business has grown to large proportions, and the company now not only supplies the local trade, but fills orders from Utah to the west, the Dakotas to the north, Texas to the south, and Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and all the states of the Middle West."

    Bogue became connected with V.V.V. in 1904

    http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1918ks/biob/boguejw.html

    ------

    THE WHISTLES OF NEODESHA
    (Kansas Semi Weekly Capital, July 6, 1900, page 3)

    Neodesha is rapidly becoming a city of whistles and whistles sound like business...

    the one at the V. V. V. brick plant...came a few days ago accompanied by an actual guarantee from the foundry that it will be heard in Fredonia, seventeen miles aways.

    It is a double barreled whistle and shoots both ways. It weights 150 pounds and is four feet long. The steam is let into it by a wheel valve instead of by a whistle cord so that it begins and quits gradually so as not to startle Fredonia by waking it up too suddenly. It is a double whistle with a deep basso profundo chime that will shake the windows and rattle the bones in Cherryvale.
    http://genealogytrails.com/kan/wilson/newsarticles1.html

    v.v.v. brick & tile co.jpg v.v.v.-neodesha,kans.brick-.jpg
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 12, 2011
  11. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    FYI, following are the three bricks out in our back patio which were salvaged from the Frisco Rolla depot as the BN was destroying it, early 1980's.

    Rolla, Mo - milepost 110.6 on the SLSF Eastern Division.

    Pardon the spring pollen! I'm about the get started on my annual early-June power wash and sealing of our patio. The bricks will look as-new then.

    Ken
     

    Attached Files:

  12. Kerry Elkins

    Kerry Elkins Member

    Here is a picture of the Hale building in Neodesha where the brick company (John Bogue) hale1.jpg had it's offices. It has been torn down. For many years it was Self Service Grocery at 4th and Main run by Johnny Moore.
     
  13. TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020)

    TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020) Passed Away July 15, 2020 Frisco.org Supporter

    This Neodesha corner building is a classic! Older style, but remodeled. Looks like it belongs on a model RR layout! Kerry, do have any date for this photo? Thanks for posting.

    Tom
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 8, 2011
  14. Kerry Elkins

    Kerry Elkins Member

    About 1908. I have a real old picture of it somewhere. Here is the 1908 article that appeared in the Neodesha paper. I found it at the museum in Neodesha:

    hale2.jpg
     
  15. TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020)

    TAG1014 (Tom Galbraith RIP 7/15/2020) Passed Away July 15, 2020 Frisco.org Supporter

    Built in '08 right? Photo must be much later, '59 Chevy (El Camino??) is in the photo!

    Tom
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 9, 2011
  16. Kerry Elkins

    Kerry Elkins Member

    Self Service Grocery.jpg

    Here is a picture of the Hale Building (Self Service Grocery) taken in about 1960.
     
  17. mark

    mark Staff Member Staff Member

    Ken,

    Can confirm Bob Wintle's suspicions.

    The bricks came from the Verdigris Valley Vitrified Brick and Tile Company (VVV Brick & Tile Co). The company dates from 1892. They produced brick, sidewalk and street pavers, block, hollow block and drain tile. The plant was served by the Missouri Pacific (MP or MoP) Railroad. It appears that the company was sold or reorganized on January 12, 1900. The company name remained nearly identical to that of its predecessor.

    Bricks from VVVB&T spread beyond both Kansas and Missouri. During the restoration of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF) former Harvey House in Las Vegas, NM brick pavers were found around the building. Additional bricks from other Kansas manufacturers include Coffeeville Vitrified Brick and Tile (CVB&T), in Coffeeville and Nesch Brick, in Pittsburg. Additional bricks came from Denver Firebrick Company, Denver, Trinidad Brick and Tile Company, Trinidad, CO and H & R Brick, Las Vegas, NM.

    Later VVVB&T was acquired by The Lumberman's Supply Company of Wichita, KS. The brick manufacturing company was renamed in 1927 as The Lusco Brick and Stone Company. Ultimately, the combination of the economic downturn of the 1930s and depleted local material supplies near the brick works contributed to the end of VVB&T. Lusco shut down the former VVVB&T operations in the mid 1940s.

    Lusco survives as a diversified company still headquartered in Wichita. They are a brick and masonry products distributor, and parent company of Kansas Brick and Tile Company of Hoisington, KS and Cloud Ceramics in Concordia, KS.

    Please see the ninth paragraph in the following link. https://www.mnbricks.com/francis-m-gardner/

    Hope this helps.

    Thanks!

    Mark
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2023

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