Texas and Pacific Coal Company general manager W. K. Gordon, seeing potential in the shale mud found in Thurber, persuaded company president R. D. Hunter to build a brick plant here in 1897. Original machinery included three Ross-Keller brick presses powered by a Corliss steam engine nicknamed "Old Hunter." The operation covered five acres and employed 800 men. Brick manufactured here was used to pave roads throughout Texas, including old Bankhead Highway (US 80), Austin's Congress Avenue, Fort Worth's Camp Bowie Boulevard, and the Galveston Seawall. The plant closed in 1931. (1995)