Bast's Brickyard, a family feat for years (Looking Back)
Everett Business Journal Feb 2002
Stonewalls may not a prison make, but by 1910, a lot of bricks and mortar had gone into the construction of the Monroe Reformatory.
Although the brick for the permanent structures was produced on-site by temporarily housed inmates, work was supervised by members of the Bast family. These Everett pioneers had long been associated with the making and laying of brick.
In 1879, following sojourns in Detroit, Chicago and San Francisco, German immigrant Englebert Bast settled his family on 550 acres across the Snohomish River from the future site of Everett. Tilling his land, Bast soon became a successful farmer and a prominent citizen among the early settlers.
When the Union Pacific sought a right-of-way for its transcontinental route to Tacoma, Bast refused the railroad's offer of $250,000 for his acreage. Later, when Everett developers platted the city, they offered Bast $125,000, but he turned them down as well. Bast's decision not to sell proved pivotal to his future and to the locally built environment. When rough economic times set in, Bast was forced to mortgage his holdings and eventually lost his farm.
While Bast suffered financially in refusing to sell his acreage, he buffered his losses by using his masonry experience to begin manufacturing brick for the impending building boom.
By October 1891, Bast's son, John, blew the first whistle and Bast's Brickyard began producing high quality building brick on the northern end of the peninsula, making it one of the first industries on Port Gardner Bay. Bast's initial production was lauded in the October 23, 1891, "Port Gardner News," which stated, "No Better Brick Made: E. Bast opened his first brick kiln Monday. Architect Sexton says he never saw a superior article, and Mr. Bast admits himself that he doesn't see how clay and water and fire can be utilized to make a finer building material. And he ought to know, because he has been in the business for year."
The Bast family built many of the early permanent structures in Everett with Bast brick. In June 1892, they completed their own business building, the Bast Block at Hewitt and Maple, which still stands and is occupied by Judd and Black. They supplied brick for other substantial structures, including the Everett Smelter and the first schools, Monroe and Jefferson Elementary, completed in 1893.
It is unclear how Bast's financial setback influenced his business plans, but at some point, brick making gave way to an exclusive focus on brick laying and contracting. By 1904, Englebert Bast and four of his five adult sons were employed in the masonry trade. John H. Bast, the eldest, appears to have picked up the leadership mantle, when his father died in 1907. By now a successful brick contractor in his own right, John added expertise to his generation's role in the family trade through his work experience in Chicago, following the great fire, and completion of his apprenticeship in San Francisco.
John's brothers may have received their training from him or their father, but their occupations, listed in city directories over the years, reflected those associated with masonry work.
One brother, Lawrence, left Everett for a time during the Alaska-Yukon gold rush, but he did not desert the family trade for gold. A 1900 census for Skagway, Alaska, shows that even then he was working as a bricklayer.
Another brother, Tony, who partnered with John in the brick-contracting business, had a reputation as a sharp dresser, belying his trade. In an "Everett Herald" column, "Rosie" Weborg wrote, "Here we will credit Tony with a trend that was new in his day. Bricklayers were not rated as white-collar workers, but Tony was a fashion plate on or off the job, and only those who lived with the white shirt of that day know that it required a machinist helper to adjust the hardware that held the cuffs and kept the collar from becoming a garrote. But Tony was a white shirt man."
The Bast brothers combined forces on a variety of projects in the Puget Sound region, but probably the largest and most unusual was construction of the permanent buildings at the Monroe Reformatory.
The Basts supervised masonry construction as well as on-site brick production by a crew of 30 inmates. The 1908 plans called for a three story main structure to be built in a Grecian style and set back 600 feet from the river. Walls were to run 1,000 feet back from each end of the building, enclosing 15 acres and providing quarters for 1,000 men.
Three additional buildings would accommodate dining rooms, laundry, bathrooms, guards' quarters and a gymnasium. Estimated completion costs were $1.5 million, including savings on labor through the employment of inmates as construction workers.
Upon the project's completion, the Basts had not only built a major state institution, but had furthered the reformatory's rehabilitation efforts by providing job training for inmates.
Like his father before him, John Bast was the father of nine children. But, instead of three daughters and six sons, John had eight daughters and one son. When the time came for the third generation in Everett to pick up the trowel and mortarboard, only John's one son, Casper, entered the family trade.
Born in 1889, Casper Bast was working as a bricklayer alongside his father and uncles by the time he was 20. He entered the military during World War I and saw combat in France, where he was gassed and spent the next several months recuperating at military hospitals.
Following his discharge in 1919, he came home to Everett, married, and soon returned to the family business. After his father suffered a fatal heart attack at work in 1936, Casper took over the brick-contracting business and continued in that capacity until about 1948, when he returned to his work as an individual brick mason.
Casper Bast died in 1956, and it is unknown if he had any children. With his death, the Bast family of bricklayers, who had contributed significantly to the built environment of early Everett, passed into history.
Although the brick for the permanent structures was produced on-site by temporarily housed inmates, work was supervised by members of the Bast family. These Everett pioneers had long been associated with the making and laying of brick.
In 1879, following sojourns in Detroit, Chicago and San Francisco, German immigrant Englebert Bast settled his family on 550 acres across the Snohomish River from the future site of Everett. Tilling his land, Bast soon became a successful farmer and a prominent citizen among the early settlers.
When the Union Pacific sought a right-of-way for its transcontinental route to Tacoma, Bast refused the railroad's offer of $250,000 for his acreage. Later, when Everett developers platted the city, they offered Bast $125,000, but he turned them down as well. Bast's decision not to sell proved pivotal to his future and to the locally built environment. When rough economic times set in, Bast was forced to mortgage his holdings and eventually lost his farm.
While Bast suffered financially in refusing to sell his acreage, he buffered his losses by using his masonry experience to begin manufacturing brick for the impending building boom.
By October 1891, Bast's son, John, blew the first whistle and Bast's Brickyard began producing high quality building brick on the northern end of the peninsula, making it one of the first industries on Port Gardner Bay. Bast's initial production was lauded in the October 23, 1891, "Port Gardner News," which stated, "No Better Brick Made: E. Bast opened his first brick kiln Monday. Architect Sexton says he never saw a superior article, and Mr. Bast admits himself that he doesn't see how clay and water and fire can be utilized to make a finer building material. And he ought to know, because he has been in the business for year."
The Bast family built many of the early permanent structures in Everett with Bast brick. In June 1892, they completed their own business building, the Bast Block at Hewitt and Maple, which still stands and is occupied by Judd and Black. They supplied brick for other substantial structures, including the Everett Smelter and the first schools, Monroe and Jefferson Elementary, completed in 1893.
It is unclear how Bast's financial setback influenced his business plans, but at some point, brick making gave way to an exclusive focus on brick laying and contracting. By 1904, Englebert Bast and four of his five adult sons were employed in the masonry trade. John H. Bast, the eldest, appears to have picked up the leadership mantle, when his father died in 1907. By now a successful brick contractor in his own right, John added expertise to his generation's role in the family trade through his work experience in Chicago, following the great fire, and completion of his apprenticeship in San Francisco.
John's brothers may have received their training from him or their father, but their occupations, listed in city directories over the years, reflected those associated with masonry work.
One brother, Lawrence, left Everett for a time during the Alaska-Yukon gold rush, but he did not desert the family trade for gold. A 1900 census for Skagway, Alaska, shows that even then he was working as a bricklayer.
Another brother, Tony, who partnered with John in the brick-contracting business, had a reputation as a sharp dresser, belying his trade. In an "Everett Herald" column, "Rosie" Weborg wrote, "Here we will credit Tony with a trend that was new in his day. Bricklayers were not rated as white-collar workers, but Tony was a fashion plate on or off the job, and only those who lived with the white shirt of that day know that it required a machinist helper to adjust the hardware that held the cuffs and kept the collar from becoming a garrote. But Tony was a white shirt man."
The Bast brothers combined forces on a variety of projects in the Puget Sound region, but probably the largest and most unusual was construction of the permanent buildings at the Monroe Reformatory.
The Basts supervised masonry construction as well as on-site brick production by a crew of 30 inmates. The 1908 plans called for a three story main structure to be built in a Grecian style and set back 600 feet from the river. Walls were to run 1,000 feet back from each end of the building, enclosing 15 acres and providing quarters for 1,000 men.
Three additional buildings would accommodate dining rooms, laundry, bathrooms, guards' quarters and a gymnasium. Estimated completion costs were $1.5 million, including savings on labor through the employment of inmates as construction workers.
Upon the project's completion, the Basts had not only built a major state institution, but had furthered the reformatory's rehabilitation efforts by providing job training for inmates.
Like his father before him, John Bast was the father of nine children. But, instead of three daughters and six sons, John had eight daughters and one son. When the time came for the third generation in Everett to pick up the trowel and mortarboard, only John's one son, Casper, entered the family trade.
Born in 1889, Casper Bast was working as a bricklayer alongside his father and uncles by the time he was 20. He entered the military during World War I and saw combat in France, where he was gassed and spent the next several months recuperating at military hospitals.
Following his discharge in 1919, he came home to Everett, married, and soon returned to the family business. After his father suffered a fatal heart attack at work in 1936, Casper took over the brick-contracting business and continued in that capacity until about 1948, when he returned to his work as an individual brick mason.
Casper Bast died in 1956, and it is unknown if he had any children. With his death, the Bast family of bricklayers, who had contributed significantly to the built environment of early Everett, passed into history.
Bast Building Everett Washington
Bast Brickyard
Fry's Opera House in Seattle
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI tried to comment before but I don't think it worked...so, trying again.
I'm a great-great-grandaughter of Englebert Bast (through his son John Bast), and learned information I didn't know when I read your post. Thank you, so much.
I'm really interested in our family's history, and did some research when I lived in Everett (I now live in Bellingham). I'd be glad to share my findings with you, if you're interested! Just let me know.
I can be reached through either of my websites, www.denise-enck.com or www.quantawebdesign.com -
Thanks again!
best,
Denise