Editing Blue Island, Illinois (section)

===Brickyards===
After it was discovered in the early 1850s that rich deposits of clay surrounded the ridge, Blue Island became the center of a significant [[brick]]-making industry that lasted for over a century. In the early years, these efforts were small, with the bricks being made by hand and the turnout created mostly for local use, but by 1886 the Illinois Pressed Brick Company (organized in 1884) was employing about 80 men and using "steam power and the most approved machinery", which allowed them to produce 50,000 bricks per day.<ref>{{cite book |title= History of Chicago – From the Earliest Period to the Present Time – In Three Volumes |last= Andreas |first= A.T. |year= 1986| publisher= A.T. Andreas Publishing Co., Publisher |page= 76 }}</ref> By 1900, the Clifton Brickyard alone—which had opened in 1883 under the name of Purington at the far northeast corner of the village<ref name="The First Hundred Years – 1835–1935"/>{{rp|49}}—was producing 150,000,000 bricks a year.<ref>{{cite magazine | title=The Clifton Brickyard, Blue Island| magazine=Clay and Brick Record| volume=14| issue =  3 |date=March 1901| pages=136}}</ref> In 1886, the Chicago architectural firm of [[Dankmar Adler|Adler]] and [[Louis Sullivan|Sullivan]] designed a large complex for the Wahl Brothers brickyard (the main building of which was {{convert|250|by|350|ft}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Louis Sullivan – Prophet of Architecture|url=https://archive.org/details/louissullivanpro0000morr|url-access=registration| last= Morrison |first= Hugh |year= 1935 |publisher= W.W. Norton & Co.| location= New York |page= [https://archive.org/details/louissullivanpro0000morr/page/268 268]}}</ref>) on the west side of the Grand Trunk tracks south of 123rd street. These buildings had been demolished by 1935, and all of Blue Island's brickyards were re-purposed by the latter part of the mid-20th century. The larger ones for a while become [[landfill]]s, and the Wahl Brothers location is now the site of the Meadows Golf Club.