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Tile Mills: Another Page of County History

Era: Growth & Industry (1880–1920)
Date: January 5, 1977
Source: Paulding County Progress, January 5, 1977, drawing on notes by Don H. Price. Ran in the Don H. Price column series (as "Another page from the history of Paulding") and again in Visions of Paulding County, Volume 1 (2000).
Rights & source note: Newspaper article; rights status not otherwise confirmed.
Tags: tile millsdrainagebrick yardsdon h price1977

From the Progress of Jan. 5, 1977:

AS THE LAND WAS CLEARED off of timber, there was still a problem of how to get rid of the water on this swampy level Paulding County. It tipped to the northeast. The highest point in the county is in Section 30, Benton Township. Here on a tip of the U.S. 30 or the Ridge Road we have an elevation of 768 feet above sea level. This drops over 30 feet north away from the ridge in the first mile. The lowest point in the county is in the NE 1/4 Section 19, Auglaize Township at the county line bridge where it is 699 feet above sea level. You can thus see that from the highest to the lowest point in the county is a distance of 24 miles and the average drop per mile after you leave the Ridge Road is a little over an average of one foot to the mile. Section 8 of Paulding Township is typical as the west end of this section is one foot higher than the east end. In Paulding, the courthouse at 717 feet is 5 feet lower than the R.E.A. [Paulding-Putnam Electric] building which is 722 feet above sea level.

The counties up in northwestern Ohio are laid off under the Connecticut survey system of square miles. Eastern Ohio is laid out under the Virginia Survey. Paulding County surveyed off the twelve townships into square miles. Then they dug ditches around or past most of them, carrying the water to the east and north with the fall.

In order to get the water to the ditches they would lay 3-inch or 4-inch tile in the fields to the outlet ditches. A lot of the early tile was dug and laid by hand. They would get the fall by using water as a leveler. Later, tile was laid with a ditching machine and they would use a surveyor’s level to be sure of the fall.

At one time there were 18 tile mills in the county making tile. Today there are only two, the Baughman and the Haviland Tile Mills. There were also two brick yards in Paulding, the William Straw Brick Yard east of the Fairground, and the Leslie Cribbs Brick Yard located at the NE edge of Paulding, a block east of the Junction Street Bridge on Route No. 111. The latter was the largest brick yard. It furnished most of the brick to build most of the brick buildings around the square. They were a soft brick and not hard glazed. The last office building built in 1910 used a hard glazed brick from the Zanesville Brick Yards. Many a sidewalk in the early days was built of brick laid in sand.

Big Jim Lynn built the tile mill at the east edge of Paulding. He sold the same to M.W. Klingler in 1904, who in turn sold it to his two sons, Paul and Frank. Paul bought out his brother in 1908.

The process was that they would go out east of the mill and take the top three feet of soil, haul it into the mill, mix it with a little water and put it through a press. There was a die with a core in it to take out the center of the tile as it passed through a cylinder. The tile was cut 12 inches in length and stacked in a drying room. They were kept there until they were perfectly dry, which would take a week or more. The mill ran from the first of May to the first of October, because the tile could not be allowed to freeze before being baked.

The kilns were round and crowned at the top inside. They were over 10 feet tall. They were made of brick, with an entrance on one side. The early kilns were square, the later ones were round. It was easier to fire the round kilns. About 10,000 tile could be baked at one time. They would be stacked ten piles high. After the dry tile were in the kilns, the entrance was sealed with brick. They were fired for about 36 hours. The wood or coal was placed under the edge of the kilns all around it. There was a peep hole in the kiln that they could look through and see the white heat. The tile would shrink in size as they baked. Through a peep hole on top of the crown this could be watched and measured. There were 10 tiers of tile that were 10 feet high. The whole stack would shrink 4 inches before they were through baking.

At one time, there were 18 tile mills in the county making tile. Today there are only two, the Baughman and the Haviland tile mills. There were also two brick yards in Paulding, the William Straw Brick Yard east of the fairground, and the Leslie Cribbs Brick Yard located at the northeast edge of Paulding, a block east of the Jackson Street bridge. The latter was the largest brick yard. It furnished most of the brick to build most of the brick buildings around the square. They were a soft brick and not hard glazed. The last office building built in 1910 used a hard glazed brick from the Zanesville Brick Yards. Many a sidewalk in the early days was built of brick laid in sand.

The making of tile was hard work; the kilns had to be filed constantly for 36 hours rain or shine. The seven employees of this plant made up the largest payroll in town. Paul ran the mill for 20 years, or until he used up all of the dirt back of his mill.

Within the county are buried the remains of about 900 Civil War veterans, six of whom were Confederate soldiers. There are also graves of several Revolutionary War veterans, and War of 1812 veterans.