Learn about antiques and collectibles with Dr. Georgia Caraway

Dickey Clay Manufacturing owned plants in 13 states including two in Texas, San Antonio and Texarkana Products included “vitrified sanitary salt glazed sewer pipe” (noted in the September 24, 1918 “Brick and Clay Record” preserved electronically on Google Books), fire bricks used in chimneys, pavers, and other clay products

Walter Dickey was chairman of the the sewer pipe war service committee during World War I that met in Washington, D C to discuss wartime needs This was a time when decisions were being made about how to allocate public funds between the war effort and routine public goods Proper disposal of sewage was advocated as a way to avoid disease, and thus avoid placing demands on medical personnel who were already in short supply at home.

Some more results from the backyard at Howe Mercantile dig

I had hoped that we would find more bottles and other neat stuff in the backyard of the building last week but all that came to the surface after the rain was mud and some glass shards Albeit they were in beautiful shades of cobalt, amber, purple, and green, they were too small to tell much of a story, although some of them did have the markings and size of old medicine bottles

One thing that did come up was the old sewer pipe It was about an inch thick of very solid clay pottery with a lovely dark brown salt glaze One piece had the marking “EY Tex” [Texas?] so I was curious as to what possible sewer pipe pottery company might have made this pipe A quick check on the internet of “EY Tex” sewer pipe manufacturers came up with W S Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company

Walter S Dickey (1862-1931) was the founder of the clay manufacturing company that bore his name The headquarters were in Kansas City, Missouri and the company was established in 1885

W S Dickey motto was: “If it’s made of clay, it’s good If it’s made by Dickey, it’s better.”

So my clay pipe sewer was made by Dickey and likely shipped from one of the manufacturing plants in Texas. If that is the case, I would surmise that most of the sewer pipe in downtown, if it still exists underground, was Dickey-made too

Dr Georgia Caraway, and her friends, opened the Howe Mercantile at 107 East Haning in April 2015 Store hours are Wednesday through Saturday noon until 8 p m We are excited to have Bucky’s Farm All Natural Goat Milk Soap made in Howe for sale

Georgia, former director of the Denton County Museums for 14 years, has written five Denton history books and hopes her next book will be the history of Howe If anyone has photos that she can copy, please bring them to Howe Mercantile

SHOP LOCAL We can show you Howe!