Hammond Fire Brick Company & the Town of Hammond, W.Va.

The Hammond Fire Brick Company was a brick factory based in the no longer existent town of Hammond on a stretch of the Tygart River in West Virginia. The Hammond area was orginally settled in 1802 by Mr. Richard Nuzum and was known as "Nuzum's Mill." Around 1865, Nuzum sold approximately 400 acres to Mr. James Watson who started a brick factory using the clay along the river. In 1899, Hammond Fire Brick Company purchased the brick factory, acreage, and mineral rights and the town of Hammond was born. Although the people of Hammond have been gone since the mid-late 1950's, some remnants of the town and Hammond Fire Brick Company are still visible today. Although no full structures remain, some house foundations, chimneys, brickwork arches, small furnaces and hidden remnants of the once huge round brick kilns still exist if you care to look for them.

The Hammond Fire Brick Company began at the turn of the century. Records of the town seem to have disappeared from government files. By the 1940s, the factory was turning out over a thousand bricks a day. The town of Hammond developed as a direct result of the brick company's presence. The town of Hammond housed the brick workers and provided a school for children.

In 1950, the factory was destroyed by fire. In 1972 a mining company bought out Hammond Fire Brick Company and destroyed all the buildings and blocked off public access. Today, little physical evidence of the Brick Company remains.

http://www.samueltaylorphoto.com/blog/2016/5/2/hammond

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/News/201203040143

http://www.timeswv.com/hammond-fire-brick-co/image_d53d978d-b934-5293-94a1-c5deb4788c0a.html