King, Moses, Brick and Tile Works

Moses King Brick & Tile Works is an industrial complex on North Coal Street in Colchester, Illinois, where brick and tile were made from 1881 into the 1950s. King, an English-born coal miner, began the business after finding that his land held surface clay, shale and fireclay, and that he had more coal than he could sell for firing. The district includes four surviving beehive kilns, two tall exhaust stacks, a 1920 factory building, a 100-foot drying shed with tunnels, an office, a machine shop and King's own 1884 brick house. The kilns, lined with firebrick and held by steel bands, switched from coal to natural gas in the mid-1950s. Illinois had 462 towns with brick and tile operations in 1886 but only 71 by 1920, and the King yard kept developing through that decline. Today the site hosts art workshops, events and gardens, and some small buildings serve as guest cottages.