by Ryan Linker ’14
“Wait… you’re selling bricks? Why?” This is a common question members of the Saint Ignatius Entrepreneur Academy (SIENTA) get, and rightfully so. Why are these students trying to sell bricks? Well in order to raise money, the club members wanted to sell something original that they knew would fly off the shelves. The moderator, Mr. Hess, suggested that they sell the abundance of bricks that are piled all around campus (yes, these are the bricks that Mr. Hennessy uses to burden Saturday jug miscreants). Nobody on campus, not even Mr. Hennessy, knew just how important these bricks are.
The bricks were manufactured by the Robinson Clay Products Co. of Akron, Ohio. They were used for street surfacing at the 1893 Chicago World’s fair. The Chicago World’s Fair was a six-month-long fair celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus arriving in America, and it also was where Edison’s invention of electricity was first made public to the world. The bricks reflect the celebration in a way of their own. Stamped into the bricks is a picture of Christopher Columbus discovering the “New World.” For their design, the bricks won the award for the best brick at the fair.
The bricks that were not used were brought to Cleveland and used to pave West 30th Street, which happens to be the road from which our beloved mall is formed. In the recent remodeling of the mall, the majority of the bricks were replaced and stacked around campus or thrown away. Luckily SIENTA got to market these unusual pieces of history.
The club has sold around 80 bricks and has made over $1600 dollars in revenue. All the bricks are lacquered and feature metal plaques on them that say, “Your own personal piece of West 30th.” With the bricks only being $20 and readily available at the bookstore, owning a special piece of your school’s and country’s history has never been so easy!
