Chattahoochee Brick Company records
Scope and Content
The Chattahoochee Brick Company documents contain business records that show the daily operation of the company through its financial, production, legal, and management operations. Most papers date to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Financial documents include cash journals, reports, record books, accounts, and ledgers. Production documents include inventories, reports, and a catalogue. Legal materials include land grands, deeds, and indentures that relate to land acquisition in the greater Atlanta area. Management documents include meeting minutes. Of particular note are several land grants from the Gold Lottery of 1832 and sporadic references to the use of convict labor by the company.
Dates
- 1821-1941, undated
Creator
- Chattahoochee Brick Company (Atlanta, Ga.) (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted through the Kenan Research Center.
Administrative/Biographical History
The Chattahoochee Brick Company was founded in 1885 by Captain J. Warren English and William B. Lowe through the purchase of B.G. Lockett and Company and a merger with Lowe Steele and Company. James Warren English Sr. (1837-1925) acted as President, and eventually one son, James Warren English, Jr. (1867-1914), became the Vice-President, and another son, Harry L. English (1871-1938), became General Manager. During the height of production in the early twentieth century, the company produced 200,000 bricks daily and averaged around 30.5 million bricks produced per year that they sold locally, nationally, and internationally. J.W. English, Sr. was the president of the third Penitentary Company of Georgia, and he used convicts as The Chattahoochee Brick Company's main labor source until the practice was abolished in 1909. Later presidents of the company included Harry L. English and H. English Robinson. The company closed in 1972.
Extent
3.75 linear ft. (four document cases, two half document cases, one oversize box)
Language
English
System of Arrangement
This collection is arranged alphabetically according to titles supplied by staff.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift, 1974, with subsequent additions
Description Control
This collection was reprocessed in 2019.
- African American prisoners -- Georgia -- Atlanta
- Brickmaking -- Georgia
- Business enterprises -- Georgia -- Atlanta
- Business records -- Georgia -- Atlanta
- Convict labor -- Georgia -- Atlanta
- English, James W., Jr.
- Industry -- Georgia
- Legal instruments -- Georgia
- Lowe, William B.
- Penitentiary Companies of Georgia
- Southern Railway (U.S.)
- Southern Railway Company
- West End (Atlanta, Ga.)
- Title
- Chattahoochee Brick Company records
- Author
- Andrew Beck and Leah Lefkowitz
- Date
- May 2016
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository