Lottie Dennick's Corvallis Brick Yard

 A woman in 1880 running a brickyard! 

I wondered:  who was Lottie Dennick and how did she come to be operating a brickyard?  This is what I learned by reading old newspapers.

Lottie Amanda Baldwin was born in Pontiac, Michigan in 1842.  After graduating from the Rockford Female Seminary in 1867, she taught school in several Midwestern states.

She married George F. Dennick in 1872. George had been an officer in the union army during the Civil War.

The couple moved to Oregon in 1873 reportedly in the hopes of improving George's health.  They lived for a time in Salem where Lottie became the first women in Oregon to receive a teaching certificate called a “Life Diploma.”

 To earn this, a candidate had to provide “satisfying testimonials of good moral character and a marked success in teaching for a period of 3 years, of which at least 1 year must have been in Oregon.”  The candidate also had to score 90% or better on an examination in the subjects to be taught.

In the fall of 1875, the couple moved to Corvallis.  The next May, Lottie opened a school in her home, teaching primary students for $1.00 per month. In addition to reading and spelling, the curriculum also included singing and gymnastic exercises.  In 1877, George purchased the brickyard (buildings, equipment, and 60,000 bricks) from H. Elliott.  Two years later (in February of 1879), George died, leaving Lottie a widow with 2 young sons:  George B. (“Bert) and Logan. To support the family, Lottie took over the operation of the brickyard and, according to the Corvallis Gazette Times (9/7/1888), “...she carried it forward and made a success of it.”

In 1880, she oversaw the installation of a new kiln.  She also advertised in the newspaper that she would take wheat and hay in exchange for bricks. In 1888, Mrs. Dennick supplied over 100,000 bricks for construction of the Benton County Courthouse.  According to the note she wrote on the back of her business card, these bricks were used in the courthouse foundation.  Her card was among the items deposited in the time capsule in the courthouse cornerstone.

In addition to running the brickyard, Lottie Dennick was active in the WRC (the ladies' auxiliary of the GAR organization of Civil War veterans) and the WCTU (temperance movement).  She was also active in the women's suffrage movement.  According to the Lincoln County Leader (3/27/1917), she “did all she could to enfranchise women. She believed it was wrong for women to pay taxes and have no voice in making the law.”

In 1893, Lottie moved to the coast and homesteaded 4 miles south of Waldport.  Later she moved to Newport to live with her son Logan.  She died in March of 1917 and is buried in the Crystal Lake cemetery in Corvallis.

Quite a life!

By Martha Fraundorf, Volunteer for Benton County Historical Society, Philomath, Oregon