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Napoleon B.
Heafer (1823-1898)
Napoleon B. Heafer was born on
December 14, 1823 in Charleston,
West Virginia. At
the age of ten,
after spending only six months in school, Heafer began to learn the
brickmaking
trade. He moved to Kentucky and,
while living
there, married Elizabeth C. Clark of Jamestown, Kentucky
in 1840. Heafer and
Elizabeth had seven children: Edgar, Arthur, Waldo, Laura, Parthenia,
Hallie,
and Cora, and they moved to Bloomington
in 1852.
Not much is known of Heafer’s life
in Bloomington until 1857, when gold
was discovered
at Pikes Peak in Colorado.
Napoleon, along with several other Bloomington
men, left to find their fortunes there. However, when he reached the
plains of Kansas, Napoleon became ill
and was forced to return to St.
Joseph, Missouri,
where his family joined him and he built one of the largest hotels in
the city.
It was also in Missouri
where he began to engage in brick making. In 1859, Heafer and his
family
finally made it to Colorado.
However, their prospecting endeavors were unsuccessful, and after 3
months,
they returned to Bloomington.
In this endeavor, Heafer lost everything he had except one piece of
property in
Bloomington,
which would become the foundation of the fortune he would make in years
to come.
Heafer still managed to become quite
wealthy, though not in the way he expected. Instead of gold, he made
his
fortune in bricks. In 1861, Heafer and James McGregor established a
brick kiln
at the corner of Hannah
Street
and Croxton Avenue.
Over the next 23 years, N.B. Heafer and Co. expanded to include seven
acres of
ground and multiple brick yards, as well as a large pond that was often
used
for swimming parties. By 1883, it was the largest clay tile factory in
the United States.
This was the first brick yard established in Bloomington and became the most
extensive.
By the late 1880s, the brick
industry peaked due to an incredibly high demand from farmers needing a
way to
drain their swampy fields. Prior to clay tiles, the mole ditcher was
the first
crude instrument used to dig underground passages for excess water.
However,
nearly all of these ditches would eventually fill up with loose excess
dirt. Clay
was abundant in McLean
County, and
after much
experimentation, Heafer made the first brick tile pipe in 1879. It was
a round
tile with a diameter of about 3 inches, though it later was enlarged to
24-30
inches in diameter, which was more effective. During this time, nearly
every
farm in the county was drained to some extent, employing clay tiles.
The growth and development of Downtown
Bloomington also helped Heafer. He is known as the inventor of brick
pavement and
for his work paving the streets of Bloomington.
If he had patented his design for paving bricks, he would almost
certainly have
become a multi-millionaire. Prior to Heafer’s paving bricks, Bloomington had
been paved with cedar wood
blocks, which were often damaged by sharp horseshoes and
weather-related
expansion and contraction. The City Council then ordered coal shaft
debris to
be used in the paving of streets. In fact, in a report by the City
Council
printed in The Daily Pantagraph, the
coal shaft debris, which had previously been touted as the best paving
method,
was then called “worse than useless” and was henceforth abandoned.
Bricks
allowed for a smoother, more weather-resistant surface. The first brick
was
laid on Center Street
and was the first use of brick for paving material ever attempted in
the United States.
The bricks themselves were made in
Heafer’s factory, which was one of the few tile factories in the United States
with first-class facilities for drying bricks in the winter. In the
summer, the
bricks were made in “gangs” of men, which included a mud-wheeler, a
molder, and
two off-bearerers. The mud-wheeler would bring wheelbarrows of clay and
dump it
on the molder’s table, and the molder would then throw chunks of clay
into the
mold. When he was done, the off-bearers would carry the mold to the
level
brickyard surface to dry. The average wage that these men would make
was $3.75
a day for the molder, $2.25 a day for the mud wheelers, and $1.00 a day
for the
off bearers. These gangs were quite efficient and made up to 5,000
bricks a
day, allowing the factory to have a total output of 200,000 bricks each
day. In
1883, Heafer’s factory turned out 4,000,000 feet of clay tile.
Heafer bricks were used in many
prominent McLean County buildings as well, including the Durley Hall
block, the
McLean County Courthouse, the Ferre Building Standpipe, the Roush
building,
Stevenson Flats, and the Arctic Ice Company. In August 1880, Heafer and
McGregor were awarded a contract for $40,800 to provide bricks for the
new
McLean County Jail on Madison
Street. The
new jail was three stories high and included a residence for the
sheriff. It
turned out to be one of the finest and most ornamental buildings in the
city,
built in the Queen Anne style.
Sadly, the brick and tile factory
burned in 1888, a year after McGregor withdrew from the company. It was
reported
that the fire was possibly the work of an arsonist. Very little of the
original
structure could be reclaimed, so Heafer decided to fully retire at that
point. Prior
to this, Heafer’s health had begun to fail beginning in 1883. He slowly
began
to withdraw from the business, turning more of his responsibilities
over to his
eldest son and partner, Edgar. Sadly, on July 10, 1898, Napoleon
succumbed to
his failing health (which was attributed to heart trouble) and died at
his home
located at 505 E.
Jefferson Street.
He had always been known as a hard worker and during his life had
endured and
survived many hardships. He was buried next to his wife, who preceded
him in
death, in Evergreen
Memorial Cemetery.
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