The Brick Kingdom

The Brick Kingdom, in the Crystal Lake Falls Historic District, was home to many manufacturers from c. 1790 to 1952.

From Barton Hydro:

In Barton, this stream borders an area known as “The Brick Kingdom.” This name is attributed to what Barton schoolchildren called the industrial ruins, a name later adopted by the Historical Association.

The name honors the place where water powered brick factories making textiles, wooden piano parts, baseball bats, and metal works. The great potential of “La Belle Lac” to provide such power was seen at Barton’s founding in the 1790’s and was where land was first cleared by Col. William Barton, Asa Kimball and others arriving from Rhode Island.

This ‘Kingdom,’ of about 5 acres, was a gift by retired publisher Ralph Paine (who had purchased it in the 1970s) to the Delahaye Fund which he founded to administer the property at a time when the Ladies’ Improvement Society were proposing to turn the area into a park. In 1983 the Crystal Lake Falls Historical Association was formally organized led by President Avis Harper. An old house on Water street, subsequently named the Pierce House, was originally proposed to be torn down but was instead renovated by the Association. The Association began plans for turning the Brick Kingdom into a park and about 1986 the Delahaye Fund deeded the property to the Association.