The Sankey brick was the preferred construction material of the South Side Flats in Pittsburgh. It was the original product of the Sankey Brick Company, founded in 1861 by William, John, and Thomas Sankey.

History

The original brick works stood at the end of a railroad at 21st Street, and now forms part of the present South Side Park. The Sankey Brothers were pioneers in the automated production of

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

, using local

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

instead of clay as the basis of the brick. The company had an office at 2112 Carson Street, and additional plants at 37th and Liberty in Lawrenceville and at Penn and Atlantic in the East End of Pittsburgh. 1916 Pittsburgh ma

References

History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Companies based in Pittsburgh 1861 establishments in Pennsylvania {{PGH-stub