Mexico, Mo., faces shutdown of its last brick factory

MEXICO, Mo. -- This eastern Missouri community -- once known as the "Firebrick Capital of the World" -- now faces the closure of its last brick factory and the loss of 200 more jobs.

Seven months after a brick plant closed here, bankrupt National Refractories and Minerals Corp. of Livermore, Calif., plans to shut down its Mexico plant Jan. 15, according to a notice filed with the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

Also on that date, National will shut down its firebrick plant in Wellsville, where 34 people work.

After filing for bankruptcy last year, National said it hoped to sell by Dec. 31 the company's assets, including the Mexico and Wellsville plants. The status of those efforts were not clear Saturday.

The expected job loss follows the April closure of A.P. Green's 200-worker brickmaking complex here.

Because the region's clay is among the world's most heat-resistant, Mexico had become a site for producing bricks used to line the furnaces in such industries as steel and cement. But in recent years, the financial difficulties of the U.S. steel industry and others have hurt demand for such products.

The firebrick industry has a long history in Audrain County. Settlers in the late 1800s knew their clay soil was better suited for firebrick making than for earthenware pots or bowls.

Industry pioneer and Mexico icon A.P. Green, maternal grandfather of U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, wrote that he thought "the quality of Missouri clays, if properly exploited, would result in establishing Missouri as the leading fire brick business in the United States and later of the world."