The story
19th century
In the 1870s, Henry S. Belden had a severe throat infection and moved to Belden with the hope that the open air would improve his health. On the farm, Henry discovered large deposits of coal, shale and clay. He built a small kiln to study the effects of firing temperatures on clay and shale.
In 1874, he invented the Belden burner, made of clay. He held a total of 13 patents for gasoline vapor street lights and secured a number of contracts for lighting cities and towns all across the United States.
In 1876, Henry went to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and saw the original mud-brick machine. He became inspired to make paving and fire brick. Henry's paving brick was the first known use of paving brick in the city of Canton.
In 1885, Henry S. Belden established the Diebold Fire Brick Company near Canton in Stark County, OH.
The Diebold Fire Brick Company incorporated the Canton Pressed Brick Company as its successor company in 1895. The first annual meeting of the Canton Pressed Brick Company was held in 1896.
20th century
In 1904, Henry's youngest son Paul Belden returned to Canton to assist his father as the company was in dire financial straits. In 1909, Paul Belden was authorized to obtain any capital needed to operate the business. Belden met with L. B. Hartung, a plumbing contractor in Canton, and persuaded Mr. Hartung to invest money in the capital stock of the Canton Pressed Brick Company. L.B. Hartung became a shareholder, owning about 30% of the capital stock.
By 1912, the company included operations in Canton and Perry County, Ohio, referred to as the Somerset Plant. Operations were consolidated under one company, The Belden Brick Company. Between 1909 and 1920, the company acquired an additional brick-making operation in Uhrichsville, OH, a majority interest in the Belden Face Brick Company (also founded by Henry Belden), and built two new kilns.
The Belden-Stark Brick Company of Detroit was incorporated in 1930 as a joint venture of The Belden Brick Company and Stark Ceramics Inc. This was followed in June 1930 by the incorporation of The Belden-Stark Brick Corporation of New York.
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In 1946, Belden acquired the plants of the Finzer Brothers Company in Sugarcreek, OH in Tuscarawas County, OH.
The company's sixth plant was built in Sugarcreek, Ohio in 1957. In 1968, Plant 8 was built in Sugarcreek, OH and was the largest brick plant ever built under one roof. In 1970, the first plant in Canton was closed down, and Belden brickmaking in Canton ceased while the corporate headquarters remained. In 1973, The Belden Brick Company acquired the assets, properties, and manufacturing facilities of the Moomaw Brothers at Sugarcreek, OH. The Shepfer-Moomaw plant was designated as plant No. 9. There were eight plants in operation that year.
The Strasburg Brick Company was acquired in Strasburg, OH near the Sugarcreek facilities in 1974. The Belden Brick Company bought out the remaining interests of Stark Ceramics in the Detroit and New York sales operations and constructed its third plant in Sugarcreek, OH to produce molded brick with a Deboer molded brick machine.
In 1982, the Uhrichsville plant and its assets were sold to Stebbins Manufacturing. In 1983, the Port Washington, Ohio Plant and its assets were sold to Empire Coal.
In 1994, The Belden Brick Company became the first brick company certified under ISO 9000. Belden purchased Redland Brick Inc. in 1996, with plants in Williamsport, MD, Pittsburgh, PA, and Hartford, CT. Redland Brick continues operating as a wholly owned subsidiary.
21st century
In 2000, another plant was built in Sugarcreek, Ohio, with a 45 million brick equivalents capacity. The same year, the Belden family was inducted into the Family Business Hall of Fame at Case Western Reserve's Weatherhead School of Management.
From Wikipedia’s article on Belden Brick Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5