The Sankey brick is the preferred construction material of the South Side Flats in Pittsburgh. It was the original product of the Sankey Brick Company, founded in 1861 by William, John, and Thomas Sankey. The original brick works stood at the end of a railroad at 21st Street, and now forms part of the present South Side Park

South Side Park (Pittsburgh)

South Side Park is an urban park in Pittsburgh. It is situated in a ravine that divides the South Side Slopes neighborhood, and extends to the location of the former Oliver Ormsby estate in Mount Oliver, Pennsylvania, Ormsby Manor.-History:...

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The Sankey Brothers were pioneers in the automated production of brick

Brick

A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...

, using local shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

 instead of clay as the basis of the brick. The company had an office at 2112 Carson Street, and additional plants at 37th and Liberty in Lawrenceville

Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh)

Lawrenceville is one of the largest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is located northeast of downtown, and like many of Pittsburgh's riverfront neighborhoods, it has an industrial past. Lawrenceville is bordered by the Allegheny River, Polish Hill, Bloomfield, the Strip District and...

 and at Penn and Atlantic in the East End of Pittsburgh.

1916 Pittsburgh map http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/maps/showmap.pl?client=maps&image=16v06p07&levels=5&originx=6464&originy=3280&lastlevel=2&fullheight=6848&fullwidth=9518&level=3&size=1&tnail.x=124&tnail.y=91