Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company (site)

 ghost town, historic ruins

Carnegie, named for Andrew Carnegie, was located in San Joaquin County, four miles east of Tesla, California. It was subsidiary of the Tesla coal mining operation where fire brick and architectural terra cotta were manufactured from 1903 to 1911 by the Carnegie Brick and Pottery Company. The clay was shipped by rail from Tesla, and the finished products were shipped by rail to Stockton.

The company town consisted of a hotel, school, bakery, saloon, bunkhouses, and cabins. It had a population of 350 to 400 of mostly Italian immigrants. There was also a small Chinese section near the Graner Hotel.

Carnegie consisted of a brick plant with several drying sheds and 12 kilns capable of producing 110,000 brick per day. A well-known landmark was the 317-foot high square brick chimney fed by six kilns.

In 1905, the terra cotta plant was added to produce the ornate terra cotta trimmings found on many of the buildings still remaining today throughout the state. Some of the finest examples include the Oakland Hotel, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, and the Palace Hotel and Methodist Book Concerns Building in San Francisco.

After Carnegie shut down in 1911, the plants and buildings were razed and the property eventually became a motorcycle and off-road vehicle park. Today the site is managed by the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area.

www.teslacoalmines.org