Site of Fraser Brick Company
Emory, Rains County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Here in 1905 Walter B. Fraser (1877-1968) built a pioneer Texas factory which produced bricks and hollow clay building tile. This was the first industrial plant in Rains County and it employed about 40 men. When, in 1909, a post office was established near here, its name "Ginger" was taken from the distinctive color of the burnt clay bricks made at the plant. Operations ceased when this clay supply neared exhaustion in the 1940s. Walter B. Fraser retired in 1944. The business prospered at its other Texas locations until sold in 1961. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1905 Walter B. Fraser built a pioneering plant here that turned local clay into bricks and hollow building tile — the first industrial factory in Rains County, employing about forty men. When a post office opened nearby in 1909, it took the name "Ginger" from the distinctive burnt-clay color of the bricks. Operations wound down as the clay supply neared exhaustion in the 1940s, though the wider business prospered at other Texas sites until it was sold in 1961.
Why it matters
The brickworks marks the arrival of industry in a rural Texas county, showing how local raw materials could seed manufacturing and even name a town.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In 1905, rural Texas stood at the threshold of a new century. Most people in counties like Rains still lived by farming, and towns were small. Railroads had begun stitching the state together, carrying goods and building materials farther and faster than wagons ever could. With them came a hunger for sturdier, more permanent buildings.
Brick and clay tile answered that need. Across the country in the early twentieth century, fired clay products were replacing wood in commercial blocks, schools, courthouses and homes. They resisted fire, which was a constant fear in towns built of timber, and they lasted for generations. Hollow clay tile in particular was prized as a lighter, economical building block for walls and partitions.
The raw material was right underfoot. Across Texas, local clay deposits made small brick plants possible, and entrepreneurs set up kilns wherever good clay met good transportation. The Fraser plant grew out of exactly that combination of geology and ambition. It brought factory work to a place that had never had it before.
People & events
The central figure here is Walter B. Fraser, who was only in his late twenties when he built this plant in 1905. He saw that the local clay could be turned into bricks and hollow building tile, and he built a factory to do it. It was the first industrial plant in Rains County. At its height it employed about forty men, a significant payroll for a rural community of that era.
The plant left its mark in an unexpected way. When a post office was set up nearby in 1909, it needed a name, and locals looked to the bricks themselves. The burnt clay fired into a warm, distinctive color, and the post office was named Ginger after that hue. It's a lovely example of how a single business could shape a community's identity, right down to what the place was called.
The factory ran for roughly four decades, until the clay supply that made it possible neared exhaustion in the 1940s. Fraser retired in 1944. The business itself did not end there. It continued to prosper at other locations in Texas until it was sold in 1961, and Fraser lived until 1968, the same year this marker was placed.
Its place in the American story
The Fraser Brick Company is a small chapter in a very large American story, the spread of industry into the rural countryside. In the decades around 1900, factories were no longer confined to big Northern cities. Small plants that turned local resources into manufactured goods began bringing wage work to farm counties across the South and West.
It also shows how closely early industry was tied to the land. The plant existed because of a particular clay deposit, and it closed when that deposit ran low. Many American towns rose and fell with a mine, a timber stand or a clay pit. When the resource was gone, the local industry moved on, even if the company survived elsewhere.
Finally, the bricks and tile made in places like this built much of early twentieth-century America. The durable, fire-resistant buildings that still line many small-town main streets came from regional plants like this one. The Ginger name is a reminder that industry did not just supply those towns. Sometimes it helped define them.
If you visit
The marker stands near Emory, the seat of Rains County, in the gently rolling farm country of northeast Texas. The plant itself is long gone, so this is a place for imagination. Picture the kilns, the stacks of drying brick, and some forty workers turning the ground beneath your feet into building material.
As you drive through the surrounding towns, keep an eye out for older brick buildings, especially commercial blocks and public buildings from the early twentieth century. Notice the warm tones of fired clay. You can't know which bricks came from this plant, but it's a fun way to connect this spot to the built world around you, and kids enjoy hunting for the ginger color.
This makes a good short stop on a backroads tour of northeast Texas, where small county seats, old courthouses and lakes are spread across quiet country roads. It's an especially nice detour for anyone curious about how ordinary things like bricks, tile and even a place name come to be.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Walter B. Fraser
Themes & tags
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