Huntingdon County Information Page
Send a story

Mount Union borough

The Plant Across the River

View of Brick Plant from Kistler Looking West - Town of Kistler, Kistler, Mifflin County, PA
View of Brick Plant from Kistler Looking West - Town of Kistler, Kistler, Mifflin County, PALibrary of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record. No known copyright restrictions. pa2824.photos.038901p

The third brickyard in town was started by two men who used to run the first one. R. P. M. Davis and Clinton V. Hackman, both former managers for Harbison-Walker, organized the Mount Union Refractories Company and built its plant in 1911 and 1912 on the edge of town along the Juniata. It opened with eight kilns. During the First World War they built twenty one more.

In 1922 the company put up a second plant in Clearfield County and renamed itself U.S. Refractories. In 1930 it merged into North American Refractories. The yard ran until March of 1990, and all but two of its beehive kilns came down after that.

This is the plant seen from Kistler, the town it built.

Nothing further from the county histories. The six histories held here end in 1913 and this story belongs to 1990, so there is no passage in them that bears on it. Rather than attach an unrelated page and let it look like corroboration, this story stands on the sources listed below.

Sources

  1. HABS PA-5974 p.4
  2. HABS PA-5974 p.7
  3. LOC caption pa2824.photos.038901p

Checked 2026-09-02 · Historic Mount Union collection

← All stories from Mount Union borough

Have something to add to this story, or a photograph of it? Send it here →

Photographs from Mount Union borough

A ferry on the Juniata near Mount Union, as Myer Souders describes itA ferry on the Juniata near Mount Union, as Myer Souders describes itShared by Myer Souders
Perspective View of House Looking North. Gable End Not Visible in Photograph Was the Canal Side. - John Sharrar House, West Water Street near Division StreetPerspective View of House Looking North. Gable End Not Visible in Photograph Was the Canal Side. - John Sharrar House, West Water Street near Division StreetLibrary of Congress · pa2853.photos.038950p
View of Office Looking South. - General Refractories Company, Office, Market Street, Mount UnionView of Office Looking South. - General Refractories Company, Office, Market Street, Mount UnionLibrary of Congress · pa2851.photos.038947p
“The New P. R. R. Station”, as Charles Welch's history of Mount Union captioned it in 1909.“The New P. R. R. Station”, as Charles Welch's history of Mount Union captioned it in 1909.Welch, History of Mount Union, 1909 · stg08
General Interior View of Packing Shed, No. 1 Works - Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, Packing ShedGeneral Interior View of Packing Shed, No. 1 Works - Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, Packing ShedLibrary of Congress · pa2727.photos.134465p
View of Grefco Houses Looking South Along Water Street - Town of Mount UnionView of Grefco Houses Looking South Along Water Street - Town of Mount UnionLibrary of Congress · pa2822.photos.038890p

All photographs →

More from Mount Union borough

Mount Union borough, A Ferry near Mount Union

Did you know? The crossing at Drake's Ferry, just above Mount Union, went from a ferry to a series of bridges. Samuel…

Mount Union borough, The darkest day: February 27, 1917

February 27, 1917, eight minutes past midnight. The eastbound Mercantile Express, Pennsylvania Railroad train No. 6 out…

Mount Union borough, A Question We Cannot Settle, and Maybe You Can

This stone house stands on West Water Street near Division. The federal survey records it as the John Sharrar House and…

Search all the stories →