History of Finzer Brothers Company

Answer 1

The Finzer Brothers Clay Company and brick factory was started in 1910 by five of the seven Finzer brothers--the grandsons of Swiss immigrants who came to Sugar Creek, Ohio in the 1850's (I believe 1857). They teamed up to begin a business that they could never have known would still be running one hundred years later almost exactly as it was when it was built. In the beginning, all labor was completely manual (being the 1910's and 20's), including the loading and moving of the bricks in and out of kilns, and it remains so today, save for a few electrical wirings and carting systems that weren't around back when it was first started. The company was bought by Belden Brick in 1946, but the "Finzer Bros" double chimneys still stand and are used. Many of the kilns are original to the plant, as well as several buildings and bricks around the railroad running through Sugar Creek (one can still find some stamped with "Finzer Bros Clay Co" beside the tracks). This plant (#4, I believe) is the only one left out of five in Sugar Creek to be almost completely original and make bricks by hand, as opposed to being mass-produced in tunnel kilns.

Hope this helped! This plant means a lot to me--has a place in my family history--and I hope this answers your question well enough!

~HF

Answer 2

Yesterday I found a broken yellow brick under the front porch of my yellow brick home built 1911. The brick had a stamping that i figured said Finzer, sugarcreek! The house is located in Cincinnati Ohio on top of one of our seven hills, at Lick Run Pike and Werk rd. Could this be brick made by the Finzer Brothers??