Brickyard Pamphlet

The two attachments (Brick Brochure) are pdf files of a pamphlet that provides the best overview of the brands of bricks that were used to pave the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the autumn of 1909. It was prepared by John Blazier and Tom Rollings - who did historians and aficionados of our sport a great service through their work. 
 
At 3.2 million bricks the order awarded to Wabash Clay Company (see Wabash Clay Co attachment) was so large that they - nor any other brick manufacturer - could meet the contract. To do so they had to subcontract to some of their competitors.
 
This pamphlet identifies the various types of bricks and the companies who provided them. In addition to Wabash Clay (Veedersburg, Indiana), other companies were Poston Paving Block Company (Crawfordsville, Indiana), the Indiana Block Company (Brazil, Indiana), Marion Brickworks (Marion, Indiana), Terre Haute Vitrified Company (Terre Haute). The pamphlet makes the point that while its record is the most comprehensive, there was no original inventory of the brands of bricks that were used. It's possible others yet to be identified are buried deep below the current running surface. The Speedway has periodically taken core samples that show the stratified layering over more than a century of paving and repaving the track.
 
Wabash Clay supplied five models of bricks, the W.C. Co., Culver Block, Veedersburg Paver, Wabash, Dunn Patent, and the Dunn Patent Veedersburg Paver. Poston had four models, Poston, Poston Paver, Poston Block, and Poston's Knobstone Block. The Indiana Block Company had two models, the Brazil and Indiana Block Brazil Ind. Marion Brickworks supplied the Marion Paver and Terre Haute Vitrified Company delivered its Terre Haute block product.
 
Of all the bricks, the model used most frequently was the Culver Block. The specifications required the brick be nine inches long, four wide, and four deep. The bricks were not laid on their face but on their sides. This was judged to deliver the most durable surface.