Rail Carts going to get filled.	Excavator	Filling carts with clay.
Machine forms clay into bricks.	Workers moving bricks.	Worker passes a kiln oven.
Kilns are large & domed shaped.	Truck tilts to pick up bricks.	All photos are of Graham Brickyard.

A portion of the "Clay Pits" remain undeveloped today, as marsh land, east of N. Pine Ave. and south of the railroad tracks.

Below are some deed histories of the brickyard lands. Most town's people, even if they are too young of age to remember the Graham Brickyard which operated until 1956 when the clay supply was exhausted, know of the "Clay Pits" along the railroad tracks east of North Pine Ave.

The brick home on the north side of Main Street as you come up "Brickyard Hill," as some have called it in a past generation, into Maple Shade Township from Moorestown is another historical reminder. This was a once a double house where John Muffett and his son Robert Muffett lived. This yard was sold to Augustus Reeve and known as the Maple Shade Brickworks. Another product beside bricks was terra cotta sewer pipes and other terra cotta products.

The Depression ended the front brickyard land but the back brickyard, under Graham Brick Co., operated until 1956.
We will first list the back, and then list the front brickyard chain of titles.

Over the period of time the brickyards of Maple Shade were used, technology changed from primitive methods of stirring the clay, water and sand mixture by horses walking in a circle turning a pug mill, and hand digging of the clay and hand packing it into wooden molds to later using an excavator to dig the earth and machinery to mix the clay and cut the clay into bricks.

The brickyard land north of the railroad is today an industrial complex. Some of the brickyards' land was taken away for the making of S-41, now Route 73. I saw an old tax map that showed an old branch of the Pennsauken Creek that had been filled in or changed to straighten it. A portion of the "Clay Pits" remain undeveloped today, as upland marsh land, east of N. Pine Ave. and the railroad tracks.

During the digging of deep clay pits various small fossils were uncovered and the Philadelphia Natural Academy of Science made field trips to the site.

The "Merchantville Clay Strata" runs along western NJ in Burlington and Camden County. It is a result of New Jersey being under water. You will have to ask someone like Hank Baron, a member of the Maple Shade Historical Society, for more information. In the clay, due to low oxygen exposure, etc..., fossils such as fossilized shells and sharks' teeth have been preserved.

In times past there have been small brickyards all about the area. There has also been bricks made for Quaker Meeting houses and old farmhouses obtained from clay dug up on someone's farm. There were three areas though where a lot of bricks came from for many years-

Pea Shore/ Fish House Station, Pennsauken, NJ
Fieldsboro/ Bordentown, NJ
Maple Shade, NJ

Pea Shore/ Fish House Station, Pennsauken, NJ-

From a book about Camden County written by Jeffery M. Dorwart, 2001

From the Philadelphia and the Environs 1877 Atlas

From the State Geologist, Vol. 6, 1904

From the Congressional Serial Set, issue 7147, 1916

Fieldsboro/ Bordentown, NJ-

1915 Sanborn map detail of William Graham's brickyard in Fieldsboro.
Map- Bordentown, Burlington County, NJ: including Fieldsboro (Sheet 13)

Church Brick Company ad from a Moorestown newspaper
The Church Brick Company, for a short time, had a branch in Maple Shade.

Maple Shade, NJ-

Ad from the Moorestown Chronicle Directory, 1907

Ad from the Maple Shade Progress, 1917

Tha back brickyard, north of the railroad, was operated by the Sauselein family, then the William Graham Brick Co.

The front brickyard, south of the railroad, was run by Thomas Lippincott (also the back brickyard as there was no boundaries), John Muffett and Son, Augustus Reeve, John S.E. Pardee, and the Church Brick Co.

The rest of this report will focus on the brickyards that were at Maple Shade, NJ

The William Graham Brickyard was north of the railroad. In this 1944 Sanborn map it has round drying kilns made of brick. (Click on image for a larger image) ? ***** Louis H. Gross, Marvin Kowit and Gabriel Berk, co- partners, parties. took title on November 5, 1956 under deed book 1295 page 223 sold by William Graham Brick Manufacturing Co., a New Jersey corporation, by Carl Z. Graham, L.J. Appleton, Helen Appleton, and Marion G. Robinson, Directors as Statutory trustees in Dissolution, parties. Tract 1- 12.1821 acres Tract 2- 0.640 acres Tract 3- 1.356 acres *****

From the Maple Shade Progress, April 11, 1935 (Click image for larger image)

Theodore Sauselein Sr. purchased land on both sides of the railroad east of Pine Ave. He built a home and a slaughter house near the railroad. He later established the Sauselein Brickyard, which was north of the railroad tracks. (Information is from "Maple Shade A Story of 300 Years.") His sons also built brick houses at 31 and 39 North Pine Ave. (Then Sauselein Lane). The photo to the top left is of one of the son's houses. Theodore Cash Sauselein finished his. George Sauselein never finished his front porch or steps so that the Tax Assessor could not assess it a completed house. (Thats what is written on the back of the photo.) Thats either a joke or a shortlived truth because in the bottom photo are the two brother's houses with the front porches completed on both. These brick homes are no longer there. You can see Holly Ave. homes in the background. (Click on the picture of the two houses for a larger image.)

From a 1877 GM Hopkins map-

The above mentioned 47 acres would be the tract on map owned by Joseph Walton.

A County Plan Map showing the Proposed S-41 Highway going under the R.R.-



Besides the Depression, S-41, now Rt. 73, didn't help the brickyards!

From the "Mineral Industry of NJ" for 1932, by Meredith E. Johnson, published in 1934-
The Maple Shade Brick Company, Maple Shade, has not operated for several years and probably will not be reopened.

Augustus Reeve/ John Pardee Brickyard in 1923

John Pardee's Maple Shade Brick Co. yard in 1929. North Boulevard Ave. with subdivision.

From The Clay-worker, Volumes 85-86, page 63, 1926

They are still in business today, located in Bordentown, NJ. Below is a quote from their website (old version), churchbrick.com- Thomas J. Church, LeRoy Church, Sr., and a few minor investors founded the Church Brick Company in 1916 and incorporated in the State of New Jersey in 1918. The first two brick plants were located in Fieldsboro, NJ and in the 1920's a third brick plant was purchased in Maple Shade, NJ. With the onset of the depression and having over three hundred employees on payroll, the company was forced to close one plant in Fieldsboro and the Maple Shade plant. Church Brick Company's Short Time Leasing from John S.E. Pardee (The title chain is written from beginning to end here-) The Church Brick Company on Nov. 17, 1925 under deed book 659 page 275 from John S.E. Pardee agreed to Lease the land and buildings etc... for a ten-year lease agreement from Jan. 1, 1926 to December 31, 1936. John S.E. Pardee known as Lesser and Church Brick Co. herein after called the Lessee. ***** Church Brick Company under deed book 721 page 355 November 15, 1928 from John S.E. Pardee "That a lease agreement dated on the 17th day of Nov. 1925... has been surrendered and cancelled." (another date- expires 3-18-28)

From the Maple Shade Progress, August 29, 1935 (Click on image for a larger image)

From the Brick and Clay Record, Vol. 61, page 46, July 11, 1922

Pardee previously had a brick business in Philadelphia. From the Brick and Clay Record, Vol. 55, Issue 7, Sept. 1919

(Take notice that the Maple Heights housing development begins with Boulevard Ave. BECAUSE the land to the east was once brickyard clay pits. The Maple Heights Land Co. took title on March 25, 1908, under deed book 430 page 266, sold by John R. Mason and Margaret his wife, who took title on March 25, 1867, under deed book P7 page 36, sold by Joseph W. Lippincott.)

The below photo and quoted information are from the book- The Clays and Clay Industry of New Jersey by Heinrich Ries and Henry B. Kummel, 1904 (Note the horse or mule pulling the clay cart on small gauge railroad tracks.) (Click on image for a larger image)

Maple Shade- The same Clay Marl formation is worked by T. Sauselein, at Maple Shade (Loc. 150), on the north side of the railroad tracks. Here the beds are mostly weathered, but burn to a hard, red brick, and make a good product on stiff-mud machines. On the south side of the railroad, and just south of the trolley road from Merchantville to Moorestown is A. Reeve's brick-clay pit (Loc. 149 Pl. XLI, Fig.1), but here the clay dug is at the line of contact between Clay Marl 1, and Clay Marl 2, both being used. The section exposed in 1902 was about thirty feet high and showed the following layers at the top: Section in A. Reeve's clay pit, Maple Shade. No. 1 Loamy gravel 2 ft. (Start of Clay Marl 2-) No. 2 Weathered clay, 8 ft. No. 3 Black clay, 6 ft. (Start of Clay Marl 1-) No. 4 Greensand and clay, 6 ft. No. 5 Black clay, 5 ft.

From the Final 1898 NJ Geological Survey At right is a portrait of Augustus Reeve from the "History of Camden County, New Jersey" by George R Prowell, published in 1886. The book does not mention him having a brickyard in Maple Shade because he didn't yet.

The John and Robert Muffett Brick and Tile Yard house in 2006.
Now 919 East Main Street, Maple Shade, NJ, converted into a single house.

The Muffett's house was probably built in 1863 when they took title to the land. It doesn't appear on the 1860 Lake and Beers map. Nathan Pancoast who owned the Mecray Lane "John Stiles house" was married to Sarah Moffett. Is she related to them? Robert Moffett was living on or near the Joseph W. Lippincott farm as we see on the 1860 Census.

John and his son Robert Muffett's brick house on East Main Street is still there today. It was once a double house. The brickyard area can be found on the map of Chester Township in J.D. Scott's 1876 Illustrated Atlas of Burlington County and G.M. Hopkins 1877 Cinnaminson and Part of Chester area maps. The story according to the book "Maple Shade A Story of 300 Years" is that Joseph Walton was a brickmaker and made the brick house for Muffetts the foremen of his brickyard. That is incorrect and what happens when you draw a conclusion from a map alone. It is possible that Thomas Lippincott might have built the house for them.

The Muffett Brickyard was part of the original John Robert's land. (Some might have been Clark's which was very early purchased by the Roberts). Descendant William Roberts had a daughter, Hephzibah Roberts Lippincott, and a son John G. Roberts. The Lippincott couple bought the land from her brother lying on both sides of the Moorestown Camden Turnpike. She and husband Joseph B. Lippincott had several children. One was Joseph W. who farmed the Mason farm- Maple Heights land. One was Thomas who moved to Philadelphia and was a brickmaker. A daughter was Lydia who married Joseph Walton a cabinet maker.

Joseph and heiress Lydia L. Walton sold the land to John and Robert Muffett who already were living in the area, managing the brickyard years prior to buying it for themselves. The 1860 Chester Township census would indicate this as "John and Robert Moffett" are listed. Waltons are not, not even in a later Chester 1873 tax assessor's book of the Chesterford school district No. 27 tax area. There is on a GM Hopkins 1877 map two houses on Walton's land which doesn't include at the time the land of the "Moffett Tile Yard" with its house.

In "Moorestown and Her Neighbors" by James C. Purdy it has a mention of the "John Muffit & Son Brick & Tile Yard." In George DeCou's 1929 book "Moorestown and Her Neighbors" we have this mention-
I regret that I cannot state definitely when the first brickyard was established near Moorestown. The present yards at Maple Shade, owned by the William Graham Brick Manufacturing Company, were conducted by John Moffit and Son in the 1880s. They were undoubtedly established at a much earlier date. Shark's teeth and sea fossils of various kinds are still dug up in the clay pits showing that this section was under water in pre-historic times.

An 1860 Lake and Beers wall map shows a Brick & Tile Yard.
(This and the 1860 census with Robert Moffett listed as "Brickmaker"
correct any "bad history" that the R.R. brought the brickyards to Maple Shade)

The 1860 census shows Robert Moffett living in the vicinity of Joseph W. Lippincott.

Thomas Lippincott grew up on the original Roberts land and left to live in Philadelphia. He probably learned brickmaking right on the property. Several nearby homes such as the Jeremiah Matlack home and later ones from his time probably got their bricks from along the creek there. His brother, Joseph W., inherited the "Mason Farm" land, and a sister and her husband the brickyard land(s), as he moved. Joseph W. Lippincott was involved in the placing of the Roberts Monument.

Part of the "Roberts Family land" owned by Joseph B. Lippincott, and Hephzibah Roberts Lippincott his wife Their son Joseph W. Lippincott inherited the farmstead land south of Main Street which was later the Mason farm, then a portion became Maple Heights. The Joseph W. Lippincott information (to the right) is from the book- "American Ancestry: Embracing lineages from the whole of the United States. 1888-1898. Ed. by Frank Munsell, Thomas Patrick Hughes, J. Munsell's sons, 1890" pg. 147 From The Friend, Vol. 18, Third month 1845- Married at Friends' meeting-house, Frankford, on Fifth-day, the 6th instant, Thomas Lippincott, of Philadelphia, to Dinah, daughter of William Hilles, of the former place. Thomas Lippincott shared a patent with James A. Hamer for an Improved Brick Mold. The patent was witnessed by a son, Hilles Lippincott. James Hamer had several patents earlier for brick molds, etc...

A Quote from the "Roberts Monument book"-

"The fact is, one day about two years ago, while I was in the office of our friend Joseph W. Lippincott on business, he said to me that he had something about which he wished very much to have a talk with me. He said that while he was farming the place which he heired from his father, he filled up what was then quite a deep hole in the ground, so as to be able to farm over the place. He said that that was the very spot where our mutual ancestors, John and Sarah Roberts, had lived in a cave or dugout when they first fixed their settlement on this continent. He said that he was very much afraid that the spot would be forgotten, and that I was a much younger man then he was, he would like for us to go out there some day and he would show me the exact place, then I might tell those yet younger than myself, so that the spot would not be forgotten."
(-Samuel M. Roberts, of Camden, N.J.)

From the "Biographical catalogue of the matriculates of Haverford College: together with lists of the members of the college faculty and the managers, officers and recipients of honorary degrees, 1833-1900" Joseph Walton (1817-1898) served as clerk of Arch Street Yearly Meeting from 1881 to 1896, a period of sixteen years.1 He had been in the furniture business in his early years, but turned more to Quaker concerns as he grew older... -From the "Friends in the Delaware Valley: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1681-1981"

From the book- "Centennial history of Westtown Boarding School, 1799-1899 By Watson W. Dewees, Sarah Lovett (Brown) Dewees"

In the above deeds, Joseph Walton's trade is listed as a cabinet maker. Prior to that he was a school teacher. Later on, he became the editor of "The Friend" for the Arch Street Meeting House in Philadelphia.

Perhaps one would assume that the Lippincott family got Joseph Walton involved into brickmaking. They didn't. It is more probable that he got one of them, Joseph W. Lippincott, into cabinet making! He was interested though in the fossils which were unearthed at the clay pits.

Advertisements found in The New Jersey Mirror newspaper on microfilm.

From a Sept 9, 1897 Trenton newspaper-

Joseph Walton was, in his later years, the Editor of the Orthodox Quaker periodical "The Friend" published for the Philadelphia Arch Street Meeting House. MOORESTOWN FRIENDS CEMETERY MAIN STREET MOORESTOWN, NJ WALTON 419. Joseph Walton Born 8th Mo. 4th 1817 Died 2nd Mo. 10th 1898 420. Lydia L. Walton Born 12th Mo. 17th 1811 Died 1st Mo. 24th 1901 421. Mary A. Walton Died 2nd Mo. 10 1879 Aged 82 Years & 5 Mo's 422. William Walton Born 12 Mo. 18, 1797 Died 9 Mo. 27, 1883

Here are some good reads for you, and downloads for your "PDF Library." Maple Shade Claypits Joseph Walton Memorial (He married Lydia Lippincott, who inherited the brickyard land) Obituary in "The Friend" Besides teaching and furniture making, Joseph Walton enjoyed sciences such as fossil gathering and botany. Joseph W. Lippincott enjoyed ornithology. He has several articles in this book.

Other "business" being taken care of by Joseph Walton and brother-in-law Joseph W. Lippincott, both at one time teachers at Westtown boarding school, was getting teachers. Joseph W. lippincott was also involved in a school for colored adults.

From Mrs. Shiplee- The white bricks were patio bricks and only 1/2 the thickness of the red ones. The Elite Bakery Building at Main Street and N. Pine was never connected with the brickyard. She lived on Sauselein Lane, now N. Pine Ave., as a girl in 1923. Trucks came down there a lot and crossed the railroad tracks to go to the brickyard. (can't do that now). As you come down from Main Street right about at the rear of the parking lot of the present Maple Hill Restaurant were the two Sauselein brothers brick houses on the right. Past that was a double frame house where she lived until her father built a house in Pennsauken where they moved to.

In 1923 the Graham brickyard was on fire. (Wooden kilns were probably still used then.) Her mother fried an egg and put it in bread and made her a sandwich to take outside and eat and watch the fire. Years later there was a second fire at the Graham brickyard. Mr.and Mrs. Shiplee moved to Maple Shade in 1941, but as you can see both had earlier ties to the town in that Mr. Shiplee had worked at Graham Brickyard and Mrs. Shiplee lived on Sauselein Lane as a girl.