Vintage Brick Kilns Need Creative Reuse

In 1906, the Medora Brick Company built a plant in the small town of Medora, southwest of Seymour. The surrounding hills yielded clay for brickmaking, while the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line running through the town provided transportation for the finished goods.

The complex included twelve round, domed kilns, a small office building, a brick-drying building, and storage sheds. The company produced paving bricks in the early years, but by the 1920s the business expanded into producing wall bricks for buildings on the campuses of Purdue University, Ball State University, and the University of Kentucky, among many others.

The Medora plant continued to manufacture bricks by hand using its original kilns until 1992. When production halted, the company sold the property to a local buyer. Since then, nature has overtaken the unused kilns and outbuildings. Alarmed by the site’s neglect and deterioration, Indiana Landmarks included the Medora Brick Company on our 10 Most Endangered list in 2005. We worked with the owner to market the six-acre site to a buyer who could repurpose it — a major challenge since adapting vintage brick kilns require a particularly creative solution.

Nature is slowly overtaking vintage kilns at the former Medora Brick Company in Jackson County.

Jackson County already draws heritage tourists to see its round barns and covered bridges – including the restored Medora Covered Bridge, the nation’s longest historic covered bridge – and the redeveloped kilns could provide another attraction, perhaps as the centerpiece of a new park.

The plant’s owner is willing to donate the property to a non-profit organization, and renewed discussions are underway to identify possible recipients and uses. Indiana Landmarks stands ready to lend assistance to any preservation-oriented reuse.

To consider a property, the prospective buyer needs a clear view, so volunteers gathered in June to clean up the site, improving the appearance and allowing for a better assessment of the buildings’ conditions. Led by Tim Reynolds – who worked at the plant for a short time before its closure – and Jackson County Visitor Center executive director Arann Banks, crews cleared away brush from two of the plant’s office building and two of the kilns.

You Can Help

We need volunteers for a second cleanup, scheduled for Saturday, August 27. For more information, contact Greg Sekula, director of Indiana Landmarks’ Southern Regional Office, 812-284-4534 or gsekula@indianalandmarks.org.