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The Alsip Sandstone Brick Company (ASBC) Limited was incorporated via Letters Patent under the Manitoba Joint Stock Companies Act on 18 May 1911. Its founding partners were manufacturers Frederick A. Clarry and William Pitt Alsip, contractor Daniel David Wood, merchant Elisa Frederick Hutchings, and barrister John Hillyard Leech. The company held a capital stock of $150,000, operated a pit at Birds Hill, and had its head office, plant, and brickyard at 1038 Arlington Street, between Ross Avenue and Elgin Avenue in Winnipeg.
The firm’s Arlington plant measured about two acres in size, built by Wood (who was also the Managing Director for many years), and designed by architect W. W. LaChance. It was completed at a cost of around $10,000 with later improvements worth some $15,000, in addition to over $80,000 in machinery. The ASBC employed around 100 workers and had an estimated daily capacity of 60,000 to 100,000 bricks. On 20 November 1912, the ASBC formally changed its name to the Birds Hill Sandstone Brick Company (BHSBC) Limited. By 1915, the plant owned two large presses each capable of 500 pounds per square inch.
The company underwent a further name change on 1 April 1920, from BHSBC to Wood’s Brick Company (WBC) Limited, by which point the same plant on Arlington was also used by the partnership of D. D. Wood & Sons. The company was amalgamated into D. D. Wood & Sons during the mid-1920s and the WBC brand was discontinued.
Period
President
1911-1912
William Pitt Alsip (1859-1944)
1912-1914
Elisa Frederick Hutchings (1855-1930)
1914-c1919
William Pitt Alsip (1859-1944)
c1919-c1925
William J. Hood
Period
Vice-President
1911-1912
Elisa Frederick Hutchings (1855-1930)
1912-1914
?
1914-c1919
Elisa Frederick Hutchings (1855-1930)
c1919-c1925
Gerhard Hiebert (1868-1934)
Period
Secretary-Treasurer
1911-c1925
Daniel David Wood (1859-1925)
“$27,000 addition to crown soap company,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 August 1911, page 1.
“Notice: Architects, builders and contractors [ad],” Manitoba Free Press, 9 September 1912, page 11.
“Notice,” Manitoba Free Press, 11 September 1912, page 3.
“Winnipeg brick company formed,” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 September 1911, page 11.
“Firm names changed,” Manitoba Free Press, 10 November 1912, page 47.
“City and general [Firm names changed],” Manitoba Free Press, 30 November 1912, page 47.
“Buy made in Winnipeg goods,” Winnipeg Tribune, 30 August 1913, Second Section page 10.
“Made in Winnipeg bricks,” Manitoba Free Press, 5 June 1915, page 22.
“Sandstone brick [ad],” Manitoba Free Press, 5 June 1915, page 25.
Orders-In-Council (EC 0003B), Order-in-Council No. 19930 & 33615 GR1530, Archives of Manitoba.
Companies Office corporation documents (CCA 0059), 99A - Alsip Sandstone Brick Company Limited, GR6427, Archives of Manitoba.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 3 December 2020
