Found old foundation and cellar...

[kblackphoto]

So- I was driving around yesterday looking for a ghost town when I discovered half of an old windmill and some foundation. We went to take a closer look and noticed that there was a huge underground cellar next to the foundation of the house (very small house). The cellar entrance was covered with wood that I believe the house was made out of. Anyways the cellar was shaped like a submarine with the top sticking out of the ground. Next to it was an old well. We found an old pepsi cola bottle and a brick that was engraved with the word acme. Looked just like the ones from the cartoons. It was a red brick with the simple name in the middle. Im trying to get the time frame on this. Also- there were some pretty neat trees near the site. They had almost an ashy white trunk and from a distance stood like a bonzai. Does anyone know what year these type of bricks were used? Or any idea about this cellar? I know this info is pretty vague but my camera is who knows where Thanks guys!

 

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[ANTIQUARIAN]

Here's what I found out about . . .

ACME Brick
3024 Acme Brick Plaza
Fort Worth, TX
76109-4104

1884 George Bennett, founder of Acme Brick Company quits McCormick Reaper and Harvester Co. to set out on his own, buys three 160-acre tracts of land in the Rock Creek area of Parker County, TX, and starts building a brick plant.

1891-1967

1891 Bennett's test brick are rated "superior," and Bennett's plant goes into full production.
Apr. 17: Acme Pressed Brick Company is chartered in Alton, IL.
1894 Acme builds a new plant across the railroad tracks, still the site of the Bennett Plant today.
1901 First print ad, which lists buildings made of Acme Brick over the previous 10 years.
1902 Construction begins on Acme's first big job, the Armour and Swift meat-packing plants located at the Fort Worth Stockyards.
1907 July 3: In Galveston on a business trip, George Bennett dies at age 54. Ralph S. Root becomes president of Acme.
1910 Fall: Roiled by economic depression and the aftereffects of a 1908 strike, Acme shuts down.
December: News of a fire in Midland, TX, prompts Acme to reopen.
1911 Acme moves its headquarters to 824 Monroe Street in Fort Worth.
1912 Bennett Plant is retooled for stiff-mud operation.
Acme acquires Denton Pressed Brick Company.
1913 Acme moves its headquarters to the First National Bank Building at 7th and Houston streets, in Fort Worth.
1914 While closed for renovation, Acme's Denton Plant catches fire and burns.
1916 Houston, San Antonio, and West Texas sales offices open.
George Bennett's son Walter, 29, is elected president.
1918 Stiff-mud machinery installed at Denton.
1919 Acme's headquarters move to the Neil P. Anderson Building, at 7th and Taylor in Fort Worth.
Acme sells 16 million brick from Bennett and Denton Plants.
Walter Bennett buys a 120-acre tract for Acme in Perla, AR.
1921 First brick are shipped from Acme's new Perla Plant.
1923 Acme merges with Fort Smith Brick and Tile.
1924 Acme buys American Brick and Tile, with plants in Oklahoma City and Cleveland, OK.
1925 Acme begins construction of new brick plant in Tulsa, OK.
1926 Acme buys the Atchinson Brick Works, which becomes Perla Plant No. 2.
Strategic partnership is established with Elgin-Standard Brick Company, lasting until 1964.
Acme buys Arkansas Brick and Tile, adding plants in Perla, Malvern, Pine Bluff (closed 1929) and Little Rock (closed 1930, rebuilt and reopened 1946, closed for good 1952).
1927 Acme buys Wichita Falls (TX) Brick and Tile (closed in the depression).
1928 Acme sells 165 million brick, setting a record that lasts nearly 20 years.
1930 As the Great Depression hits, Acme shipments fall to 98 million brick.
1932 Annual sales fall to 24 million brick.
1934 Acme records its first and only annual loss.
1935 Plants in Bridgeport and Ferris, TX, acquired from bankrupt Bridgeport Brick, come on line.
Walter R. Bennett dies; William Bryce, 74, becomes president and chairman of the board.
1940 Annual sales total 85 million brick.
1941-1991
1941 J. Ernest Fender, 58, becomes president; William Bryce continues as chairman.
1943 German POWs work at Acme plants in Perla, Fort Smith, Bennett, Denton, Bridgeport and Oklahoma City.
1944 Acme buys a plant in Clinton, OK., first plant purchase in a decade (closed 1986).
1945 Acme buys Bishop Brick Company, of Houston (closed 1958).
Acme buys Garrison Vitrified Brick Company, in Garrison, TX.
1945-1950 Sales triple, from $3 million to $9 million, in the postwar period.
1950 Through lease-purchase, Acme acquires Louisiana plants in Monroe (closed 1966) and Baton Rouge (closed 1984).
1952 Acme moves its headquarters to 2821 W 7th St. in Fort Worth--built of brick from the Denton Plant.
1954 Acme breaks into the Kansas-Missouri market with the purchase of Buffalo Brick and Tile, in Buffalo, KS
Acme lease-purchases plants in Alexandria, LA, and Waskom, TX, from Tri-State Brick Company. Both close in 1962.
1958 Acme buys plants at Kanopolis and Great Bend, KS (Great Bend closes November 1961), from Great Bend Brick and Tile.
1959 Ernest Fender, 76, retires; Neill Boldrick, 58, and a 35-year Acme veteran, becomes president.
1960 Acme's vital statistics: 19 plants, 32 sales offices, annual sales of 300 million brick.
1961 Acme buys Fraser Brick and Tile, of San Antonio, adding a plant at McQueeney, TX.
D. O. Tomlin, 46, becomes president.
1962 J. Ernest Fender dies, age 78.
1960s Acme develops King Size brick in Oklahoma, "Classic" brick in Denton.
1963 Acme buys the United Brick Division of Martin Marietta, gaining plants in Kansas City, MO (closed 1967); Harrisonville, MO (closed 1969); Weir, KS; Tulsa, OK; Oklahoma City, OK (closed 1969, reopened 1972); Collinsville, OK (never operated); and Coffeyville, KS (never operated)
Following extensive renovation, and with great fanfare, Acme opens the "new" Denton Plant.
1967 After a third round of expansion to the new Denton Plant, the "old" Denton Plant closes after 50 years of operation. Acme opens a fully automated East Gate Plant at Perla, AR.

I hope this helps!
Dave

 

[kblackphoto]

thats alot of info! lol yes it gives a good timeline and gives me an idea of how old it could possibly be. now to find the brick itself- google isnt being helpful I can't find a picture of it or a description of its actual year of production. I may have to write someone at acme. I am from Oklahoma and noticed they did some work here so that was a neat find.