Bricks Galore! Used Brick

Ive been searching over the summer for used bricks to build with. I finally found what I was looking for on Craigslist last week. About 20 miles from my home is this old corn bin. The owner wants it tore down and removed from his lot. There must be 8,000 plus bricks here for me. With the bin ruins also comes a large pile of brick rubble. The bricks are in mostly good condition though some are broken in pieces.

Are the clay tile holes along the side for grain drying?

There are four firebrick arches along the bottom.

Can anyone give me ideas as to how this worked? It has my curiousity up.

Brick smokestack

This is the brick smokestack at Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. The pics are poor because of the snowy weather the day I was up there. I will try to get better pics when I can.

The raidial brickwork is larger than the standard bricks nearby.

The stack is over 100' I would guess.

Brickmaking in Carroll County Indiana

Found this photo looking thru the historical files online for Carroll County. This photo was labeled to be from around 1882. The bricks were being made for local construction projects.

Xenia schoolhouse.

This little old schoolhouse is only about 5 miles from my home. It is at a crossroads of two rural county roads and the only thing left of the small town of Xenia in Carroll county, Indiana. What I find interesting is that it is so small, yet a two story structure. Why was it made this way? Most schoolhouses of the time were bigger one room, one floor structures. Any thought as to that? Ive seen the map for this town in an old book my dad has for Carroll county. If I can find the picture of the old plate map for the town of Xenia, I will post it here for you to see.

Another thing I noticed. Ive seen this before on other old brick buildings. The brick about a foot above the ground is weathered and peeling away. Im sure its from the cold and water freezing in the brick. But why at that exact height? Why not all the way to the ground? I know that when I build my garage with my brick, I will have a concrete wall from the foundation slab up about 1.5 to 2 feet so I can avoid this brick damage. Anyone out there that can explain more about why it happens like it does here?


I put this post together from memory of when I was a kid and had seen the old maps of the county. I couldnt find the books so far and was starting to doubt myself. I went online searching for info on the town of Xenia in Democrat township of Carroll county. On all of the later maps, say maybe 1880's and later, Xenia doesnt exist. But on one map it showed the image of a town layout at the crossroad where Xenia was without labeling it as such. Then I finally came across an older map from 1852 which vindicated my childhood memory. There it was printed out, Xenia!!