Mortgage Sale. Default having been made in the conditions of a certain mortgage, bearing date on the 20th day of April, 1874, made and delivered by William H. Sherwood and Ella F. his wife, and Gilbert Johnson and Mary F. his wife, all of the county of Winona and State of Minnesota, to Charles H. Berry, trustee, of the same place, which said mortgage was recorded in the office of the Register of Deeds in and for said Winona county, on the 22d day of April, 1874, in Book "Y" of Mortgages, at page 199, by failure to pay the sum six hundred and sixty-three dollars and fifty cents, which said sum is claimed to be due and unpaid on said mortgage, at the date of this notice; said mortgage and debt secured thereby being still owned and held by said mortgagee, in trust, however, and no proceedings at law having been instituted to recover said debt or any part thereof. Now, therefore, by virtue of a power of sale in said mortgage contained, and of the statute in such case made and provided, notice is hereby given, that the said mortgage will be foreclosed, and the premises therein described, lying and being in said county of Winona, described as follows, to wit: Lots one, (1), Two, (2) three, (3) four, (4) and five, (5) Block fifteen, (15) and lots 1, (1) two, (2) five, (5) six, (6) Block sixteen, (16) and formerly lots one, (1) and two, (2) and the north half of mill lot eight, (8) and the adjacent parts of what was formerly Front and C streets, all in the village plot of Dresbach city, being the premises known as the brick yard property; also lots four, (4) five, (5) six (6) and seven, (7) and fractional parts of three (3) and eight, (8) block thirteen (13) being also known as residence property of party of first part, all situate(d) in the village of Dresbach, Winona county aforesaid, with all the hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging, or in anywise appertaining, will be sold at public venue, to the highest bidder, for cash, to satisfy said mortgage debt and interest thereon, and fifty dollars attorney’s fees, provided for in said mortgage, and the costs and disbursements of sale, allowed by law, at the front door of the Court House, in the city of Winona in and for the county of Winona, on Saturday, the 11th day of December, 1875, at ten o’clock in the forenoon of that day. Dated this 28th day of October, 1875. C. H. Berry, Trustee, Mortgages. O. B. Gould, Att’y for Mortgagees. (The Winona Daily Republican, Friday, October 29, 1875, Page 4)
Mr. W. H. Sherwood, of the firm of Sherwood & Johnson, brick manufacturers at Dresbach, Winona county, was in the city, yesterday, looking after orders for their celebrated brick, in which he had splendid success. In addition to the common stock brick, the firm manufacture fronts, octagon cut, cornice, well and water-table brick. Having the largest and most complete establishment in the State, orders are always filled promptly. (The Saint Paul Daily Globe, Thursday Morning, April 15, 1880, Volume III, Number 106, Page 1)
Sherwood & Johnson…Dresbach (Minnesota State Gazetteer and Business Directory including Dakota Territory 1880-81, Volume II, R. L. Polk & Co. and A. C. Danser, St. Paul and Detroit, Page 978)
Messrs. Sherwood & Dresbach, proprietors of the celebrated brick yard at Dresbach, were in town to-day and report business brisk in their line. (Winona Daily Republican, Friday, June 17, 1881, Page 3)
Dresbach. The Brick Business – New Depot Priviliges. The proprietors of the famous Dresbach brickyard, Messrs. Sherwood & Johnson, are doing a lively business this season under the activity which prevails in building operations. They received an order a few days ago for 1,000,000 from Mr. Gray, a contractor in St. Paul, but failing to secure favorable towing rates from Captain Davidson the contractor and brickyard proprietors at once sought an interview with the Division Freight Agent of the Milwaukee and St. Paul road, Mr. Langley. This consultation led to a conference with Superintendent Prior with the view of securing a necessary side track, and the result of it all was a proposition to remove the station buildings from Dakota, a mile distant, to Dresbach, provided the people of the latter village would pay expenses of removal, about $500. The amount has bee promptly raised at Dresbach and the contract signed for the track and depot. This change will doubtless prove of mutual advantage to the town and to the railroad company and materially assist in the development of a prominent industry of Winona county. (Winona Daily Republican, Monday, June 20, 1881, Page 3)
Dresbach is truly enjoying a "boom" this season in all that the word implies. The four brick yards will soon be in operation and manufacturing daily a combined product of seventy-five thousand bricks. Messrs. Sherwood & Johnson will soon have their two yards in operation. The one that is being supplied with steam power is being rapidly brought to completion. The engine used by the firm is from the Atlas engine works, Indianapolis, Indiana, and of a twenty-horse power capacity. (Winona Daily Republican, Tuesday, May 2, 1882, Page 1)
Col. Sherwood, of the firm of Sherwood & Johnson, brick manufacturers, Dresbach, Winona county, is in the city looking after his extensive contracts in this vicinity. (The Saint Paul Daily Globe, Thursday Morning, July 13, 1882, Volume V, Number 194, Page 3)
Wanted – Eight Men, or Boys over 16 years of age, to go to Dresbach to load brick on cars – Work until winter. Apply to Sherwood & Johnson, Dresbach, or to C. L. Bonner, Winona. (Winona Daily Republican, Monday, July 30, 1883, Page 3)
Sherwood & Johnson, of that village, are shipping four cars of bricks per day… Messrs. Sherwood & Johnson are continually enlarging their manufacturing capacity and have orders for all the brick they can make. (Winona Daily Republican, Wednesday, September 5, 1883, Page 3)
Messrs. Sherwood & Johnson have had a very successful season’s run of brick making – averaging about 35,000 brick per day for the season. Mr. Henry Becker started up his yard quite late in the season, but managed to run out and kiln 400,000 brick. The Northwestern Brick Company have averaged 15,000 brick daily and have a good supply of brick on hand for Winter and Spring delivery. Messrs. Sherwood & Johnson furnished the Harvester Works of Winona with 1,600,000 brick. (Winona Daily Republican, Wednesday Evening, October 3, 1883, Page 3)
William H. Sherwood and Gilbert Johnson, both formerly of New York, are the owners and operators of two large brickyards. They ship from three to four millions of brick annually. They employ from thirty to forty men. (The History of Winona County, Together with Biographical Matter, Statistics, Etc., A. T. Andreas, H. H. Hill and Company, Chicago, 1883, Page 566)
The Brick Business. Operations at the City of Dresbach. Business is pretty active at the prosperous little town of Dresbach, a few miles below Winona. Mr. Sherwood, of the well-known firm of Sherwood & Johnson, was in town on Tuesday and reports that their brick yard is turning out 40,000 brick per day, of which 30,000 are stock brick and 10,000 pressed. They are working a manufacturing gang of forty men, and are well supplied with orders from various parts of the country. (Winona Daily Republican, Wednesday, May 21, 1884, Page 3)
Sherwood and Johnson, Dresbach; in good weather make 30,000 per day; two millions were made in 1881; sell at $6.00 per thousand, loaded on the cars; oak wood is $3.00 per cord, soft wood $2.50; ship by cars and by river; steam machinery for molding. The brick-yards at Dresbach are in active and flourishing condition, and they furnish a fine quality of red brick, some them being a superior pressed brick, equal in texture and fineness to those from St. Louis, but not yet their equal in the mechanical execution of the molding and handling. The loam used is free from limestone and from concretions. It lies directly on the sandstone of the St. Croix, but has in its upper portions (which are rejected) layers of debris, like Nos. 3 and 5 of the section at Pickwick. (The Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, Volume I, 1872-1882, N. H. Winchell and Warren Upham, Johnson, Smith & Harrison, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1884, Page 266)
103. In proceedings for the condemnation of lands for railroad purposes there was appropriated for the company’s use a strip of land, part of a larger tract, used and occupied as an entirety for the purpose of a brick-yard. Held, on appeal from the award of commissioners, that it was proper to show that by reason of such appropriation the appellants were prevented from enlarging their works, and, in consequence thereof, the depreciated value of the brick-yard; and, in determining the damages, it was also proper to take into consideration the effect on the value of the premises, and convenience in using them for plaintiff’s business, of the necessity of constant and frequent crossings of the track in hauling clay from the pits. – Sherwood v. St. Paul & C. Ry. Co., 21 Minn. 127. (A Digest of the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Minnesota from the Organization of the Court to April, 1892, Volume I, West Publishing Co., St. Paul, 1892, Page 584)
Sherwood & Johnson, Dresbach, Minn. (The Railroad, Telegraph, and Steamship Builders’ Directory, The Railway Directory Publishing Co., New York, 1888, Page 45)
Dresbach. Sherwood and Johnson burned their first kiln of brick of the season last week. (The Winona Republican-Herald, Monday, June 16, 1902, Page 5)
Dresbach. Sherwood & Johnson are burning the first kiln of brick of the season this week. (The Winona Republican-Herald, Wednesday, July 22, 1903, Page 7)
The brickyards at Dresbach, Minn., formerly owned by Sherwood & Johnson, have been purchased by Gilbert Johnson and D. H. Baker and the new owners will operate them at their full capacity next season. (Brick and Clay Record, Kenfield Publishing Company, Chicago, December 1907, Volume XXVII, Number 6, Page 222)
The best deposit observed is at Dresbach, where it was worked for about 30 years in the manufacture of common red brick and where at one time four large brickyards were using it. No work has been done at this locality for several years. (Clays and Shales of Minnesota, Frank F. Grout with contributions by E. K. Soper, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1919, Page 247)