The manufacture of brick and tile is conducted on an extensive scale, just outside the city limits.  The yards being owned and operated by J.A. Kerr.  The past year Mr. Kerr manufactured 750,000 brick, and six large kilns of tile, employing a large number of men, and finding a market for a large share of his product right at home, largely on account of the immense amount of building done in Ames the past year.

The old brick and tile works west of the college, is now under the control of practical men who know their trade thoroughly.  W.H. Cameron has worked at brick making nearly all of his life and Jake Lyon has had several year's experience also.  They have just finished burning their first kiln of brick and have turned out an article that they want interested parties to examine.  They have made a hard smooth brick that has the ring of durability and honest worth.  Facilities for manufacturing hand made and machine made brick and all sizes of drain tile are theirs as well as the necessary skill and knowledge, and will doubtless receive a good patronage as fast as the quality of their product shall become known.

Henry C. Cameron, a veteran of both the Mexican War and the U.S. Civil War, moved to Story County from Indiana with his wife Amanda in 1852.  He was born in Marion County, Indiana, on June 22, 1825.  Amanda Hussong was born in Knox County, Indiana, on November 14, 1826, and as a small child moved with her family to Clay County, Indiana.  The two married on August 12, 1847.  The couple bore ten children, although two died in infancy.  One of Henry and Amanda Cameron's sons, William, owned the brick factory in the vicinity of Ontario, Iowa, west of the Iowa Agricultural College.  His kiln probably produced the bricks used for both the Cameron home and the Cameron schoolhouse located north and west of Ames.  Henry died on June 16, 1904, at the age of 79; Amanda died in 1919 at the age of 92.