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Medora Brick Factory by Christopher Crawford

One day at the end of February, 2006 I heard that there was an abandoned brick factory in the tiny town of Medora in Jackson County in southern Indiana. I have wanted to photograph one of these brick plants with the old fashioned beehive kilns for years because right after I graduated from High School I photographed a wedding in Ohio and found an abandoned brick plant near the town I was in but I was not much of an artist back then and was dissapointed in the photographs I made there. I can't remember where I found the place anymore, so I never went back.

The Medora Brick Company was only about an hour from Louisville so Dee Dee and I drove up there so I could photograph it. We were there a couple hours and it was cold outside so we left before I got to explore the whole place. I stopped back a week later on the way to Fort Wayne where I was going to visit my son.

A former employee of the brick factory stopped by to talk to us when we were there the first time and he said he worked there ten years until the place closed in 1992. He described to us the process for making bricks in the ancient kilns that were nearly a century old and said that a lot of good people lost their jobs when it closed.

Check out the Medora Brick Plant Site. It's maintained by Steve Graves, a former resident of Jackson County, Indiana who hopes to see the brick plant restored someday. Steve discovered the abandoned brick factory while researching his family's history. His great-grandfather was a supervisor at the Medora Brick Plant in 1914.

16 Photographs

 

Office building at the abandoned brick factory at Medora, Indiana. Small brick building with white wooden doors. Medora Brick Factory.

 

Beehive kiln and tall chimney at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. The kiln and chimney are built of brick with rusty iron bands around the outsides for structural support. A long pole attached to the side of the tall chimney holds a light fixture above the kiln.

 

Entrance to a beehive kiln at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. The door has KKK painted on it by racist vandals. Above the door the phrase "Blood Baths" has been spray painted on the metal door frame of the brick kiln. The dome over the top of the kiln is covered in old bricks. The doorway has an arched top.

 

A view looking out the door from inside a beehive kiln at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana with the wooden tracks that were used to wheel the bricks into the kilns. The door has an arched top.

 

Interior of a beehive kiln at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. The brick struckture has spray painted graffiti that says Fresh Meat. Colored spots are also painted on the walls.

Partially bricked up entrance to a Beehive kiln at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. The kiln is made of brick with large iron bands wrapped around it for structural support. Rusty metal door frames remain around the entrance and the dome on top of the kiln is overgrown with tall grass and weeds. Medora Brick Factory. The doorway has an arched top.

 

Old potbelly heating stove in the workshop at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. Abandoned industrial building with large windows and debris on the floor.

 

Workers locker room at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. A worker's coverall still hangs from the door of one of the lockers. The lockers are made of wood with a wood bench under them in an old brick building.

 

Partially bricked up entrance to a Beehive kiln at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. The kiln is made of brick with large iron bands wrapped around it for structural support. Rusty metal door frames remain around the entrance and the dome on top of the kiln is overgrown with tall grass and weeds. Medora Brick Factory. The doorway has an arched top.

 

Workers locker room at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. A worker's coverall still hangs from the door of one of the lockers. The lockers are made of wood with a wood bench under them in an old brick building.

 

Beehive kiln at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. The kiln is built of brick with large iron hoops around the structure. The main entrance and the stoking doors are visible and the top of the doors are arched. The top of the kiln is a dome covered in tall grass.

 

 

 

Christopher Crawford
Fort Wayne, IN

chris@chriscrawfordphoto.com

 

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by Christopher Crawford

 

Light hanging above a beehive kiln on a long pole from the chimney at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. Tall brick factory chimney.

 

entrance to the office building at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. Small brick building with old whitewashed wooden doors. The word TICKETS has been spray painted above the doors.

 

Stoking doors on a beehive kiln at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. The dome on top of the kiln is overgrown with tall grass and weeds. Bricks tumble out of the small doorway of the brick kiln. The doorway has an arched top.

 

Looking out the door from inside a beehive kiln at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana with bricks scattered on the floor. The doorway has an arched top.

 

Beehive kiln at the abandoned brick factory in Medora, Indiana. The kiln is built of brick with large iron hoops around the structure. The main entrance and the stoking doors are visible and the top of the doors are arched. A light pole stretches above the rusty metal door frame, while the top of the kiln is a dome covered in tall grass.