BARTHOLOMEW BRICK YARDS

WERE YESTERDAY PURCHASED BY A. I. HUNTER OF THIS CITY

THE CONSIDERATION WAS $25,000 CASH

THE NEW PROPRIETOR TAKES IMMEDIATE POSSESSION

160 ACRES OF LAND ADJOINING THE CITY INCLUDED IN THE PURCHASE, WITH ALL APPURTENANCES

One of the most important business transfers made in Grand Forks for several years was completed yesterday morning when John S. Bartholomew sold his brick yards adjoining the city limits on the south to A. I. Hunter.  The transfer included 160 acres of land, over a million brick ready for the market, eight horses, together with all buildings, machinery, etc., that Mr. Bartholomew owned.  The consideration was $25,000 cash, which was paid by the present owner, who takes charge at once, and will begin active preparations for a very heavy season’s run.

Several thousands of dollars will be expended on improvements in the near future and the yards will be placed in first-class condition at once.  Mr. Hunter has for several years been the secretary of the Red River Valley Brick company, which controlled the output of all the brick yards in this city and East Grand Forks, and it is probable that he will continue in that capacity.

Mr. Bartholomew established his yard here in 1880 and has been in the business continuously ever since that time.  He was one of the heaviest contractors of the early days in Grand Forks, and built the old Hotel Dacotah, the Security block, the Herald block, the Collins block and the Bartholomew block, the last named of which he is the owner.  He will remain in Grand Forks, but has retired from active business for good.

He has made a success of the brick manufacturing business, and has sold the product all over the northern portion of the state.  The quality of the clay he has used produces a very fine sample of brick and the business he built up was the result of years of experience in the business.  He retires as he expressed it, “To rest on his oars,” after a very active business career.  Mr. Bartholomew was interested in the Aberdeen gas plant till it burned over a year ago.  His son, Fred A. Bartholomew, managed the Aberdeen business and for the past two years has managed the brick business at this place.  He and his wife will leave the first of March for Los Angeles, California, where they will spend the next year at least, and may remain there permanently.

Mr. Hunter has been a resident of Grand Forks since the early days and as secretary of the Red River Valley Brick company has gained a practical knowledge of all the details of the various branches of the business.  He is therefore in a position to make a success of the business he has entered from the very start.  He has invested a large amount of money in the enterprise and is confident of its future, as the prospects for building activity throughout the state were never better than at the present time, and locally there will be a very heavy demand for brick the coming summer.  The buildings that were included in the purchase include a very fine brick house and barn, and it is probable that Mr. Hunter will move from his present residence on Chestnut street to the house on the new property, but he has not decided definitely as to this.

Mr. Hunter is a capable, energetic business man whose integrity is beyond question, and his many friends wish him every success.  (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Friday Morning, February 21, 1902, Volume 21, Number 97, Page 4)