Brick & Tile Factory

The brick factory site was founded in the late 1800s and throughout its history involved several family names: Thurston, Kessler, Switzer, and ultimately became the Western Clay Manufacturing Company in 1905 under the Bray family, Charles and then Archie. It produced various types of brick and tile, many examples of which you can find in historic Helena architecture.

The various structures you see here are a part of the clay and brick production system, which included refining and mixing the clay as well as extruding, drying and firing brick and tile. For years, the factory was a mainstay of the Helena economy, employing many from the community and producing building materials distributed throughout the Northwest.

The brickyard has not produced brick since 1961. It was purchased by the Archie Bray Foundation in 1984, and continues to be an important part of the landscape of the art center that Archie Bray once envisioned.

The beehive kilns and Brick & Tile Factory are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and this includes all bricks and tile parts on the grounds. The bricks are no longer for sale and we ask that you do not remove them from the grounds. Please do not enter these buildings, they are off limits for safety concerns.