Lime Kilns

Late 20th century Cchanges in lime production at Marblehead, Wisconsin

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The 1970’s and 1980’s witnessed major changes in lime production and the companies that produced lime.  Major consolidations, such as the one that formed by the consolidation of several companies into Western Lime had already taken place (in the 1920’s), and by the 1970’s operations were reduced to a few plants.  Western Lime was down to three operating plants in the 1970’s.  These included operations in Green Bay, Knowles (Nasbro), and Eden (Marblehead).  In the 1980’s Western Lime closed the Nasbro plant, moving staff and operations to Marblehead.



At one time, several companies, including Western Lime were in operation in the Marblehead area.  Western Lime and Union Lime were the only surviving operations in the mid-1900’s.  In the 1970’s the Union facilities, including the crusher, hydration plant, and kilns were removed, leaving only the Western Lime facility in operation.  In the 1980’s Western Lime’s stone kilns were removed as lime was produced in more efficient rotary kilns that remain in operation to this day.



The photographs shown here were made in the winter of 1976/77 while I was still living in Fond du Lac.  In the 1960’s my  brother and several friends often biked from Fond du Lac to Marblehead.  I clearly remember the crushing plant was still standing,  but I do not remember the lime kilns or other buildings.  On one trip we stopped at a store in town, and had the owner sign his name to our atlas to prove we made it there.  I do not remember the name of the person or the store, but he was a bit amused at the request,



The images here show the dilapidated lime kilns and cement chimney along with the crushing mechanism from the crushing plant.  In the distance the lime kilns from Western Lime were still in operation.



Today, very little remains of the of the extensive lime operations that occurred here for over 160 years.  All that remain are a few old kilns on nearby private property. and in the memories of those who lived and worked here.

Crusher Mechanism among the debris from the torn down crusher plant, 1977

Crusher Mechanism among the debris from the torn down crusher plant, 1977

Union Lime Plant Kilns, Marblehead Wisconsin 1977

Union Lime Plant Kilns, Marblehead Wisconsin 1977

Union Lime Plant location (foreground) with Western Lime Kilns in background. 1977.

Union Lime Plant location (foreground) with Western Lime Kilns in background. 1977.

Building interior from Union Lime Plant., 1977

Building interior from Union Lime Plant., 1977

Tunnel. Marblehead, Wisconsin.

Tunnel. Marblehead, Wisconsin.

Lime Industry and the Railroad at Marblehead, Wisconsin

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Lime Production and the Railroads

 

Rail cars awaiting loading at Marblehead spur, January 2011,

Rail cars awaiting loading at Marblehead spur, January 2011,

Railroads were the life blood of industrial expansion in the United States in the last half of the 19th and well into the 20th Century.  The lime industry in Wisconsin and elsewhere was certainly no exception, relying on railroads to ship their products to far flung markets.

 

Access to railroads for lime product shipment to local and regional customers was critical to starting a business, and for remaining competitive.  In this blog post we will examine how this played out at one of Wisconsin’s largest lime producing regions—the plants at Marblehead just south and east of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

 

Kilns were producing lime in the Marblehead area by the mid 1860’s and possibly earlier.  The first recorded lime operation was a single pot kiln operated by Joseph Foxen in the mid-1860’s.  At this time, the Nast family immigrated from Mecklenburg Germany, stopping first in the Taychedah area, and then establishing a farm in what was to become Marblehead.

 

The Nast Brothers, August and William, assisted Joseph Foxen in the production in lime, and soon took over the operation of the single pot kiln.  This was the first step in what was to become one of the major producers of lime and limestone products with the establishment of the Nast Brothers Lime and Stone company in 1872 and ultimately the Western Lime and Stone company in 1886.

 

The first lime kilns, like the pot kiln operated by Joseph Foxen, produced lime for use in the local area. At this time many towns and settlements had their own small operation, mostly with a single kiln meeting their needs.  By the 1870’s, shaft kilns became more common, and produced a larger quantity of lime.  The Nast Brothers, like others at this time, produced lime for mostly local use, though they did make shipments to customers as far away as Oshkosh.

 

Sometime after the completion of a railway line between Fond du Lac and Milwaukee in the 1850’s, lime products shipments by rail had begun.  By the end of the 19th century, lime producers were constructing larger facilities, producing greater quantities of lime to serve a regional customers  As these operations could supply a wider area with less expensive product most small community lime production became uneconomical and ceased business.

Rail shipments from Union Lime Plant 1901, High Cliff, Wisconsin

Rail shipments from Union Lime Plant 1901, High Cliff, Wisconsin

 

Getting access to  and controlling access to the railroads gave companies a major economic advantage over other producers.  In Marblehead a railspur from the nearby Chicago and Northwestern line served several producers, including the Nast Brothers operation and the Union Lime company.

 

When Herman Nast, the son of William Nast, decided to open his own plant (Eden Independent Lime) around 1909, it was necessary for him to petition the railroad to allow access to this railspur.  The railroad commission conducted hearings on the matter, with the Union Lime  and the Nast Brother’s operation objecting to granting access and connection to this spur.  Their claim was that they owned the trackage, and therefore had a say in who could be given access.

 

After the hearings, the railroad commission determined that the Chicago Northwestern railroad actually paid for the construction of the spur, not the lime companies.  The commission found in favor of Herman Nast and the Eden Independent Lime company, and access to the railroad was granted, and the short section of track laid.  The railroad commission’s report can be read at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Opinions_and_Decisions_of_the_Railroad_C/lrpGAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=eden+independent+lime+and+stone&pg=PA233&printsec=frontcover

 

 

 

After all the legal wrangling, production of lime from the single shaft kiln built by Eden Independent was very short-lived.  In fact only one of the two planned kilns was built, and it only produced a single carload of lime before operations ceased.

 

By 2003, the rail line from from West Bend north to Eden was abandoned and the rails pulled.  In 2021, the Canadian National Railroad continues to operate the line from Fond du Lac to the Marblehead plant. Today, over one-half of all the production at the plant is shipped by rail, carrying on a tradition nearly a century and a half old.

 

 

 

 

 

Marblehead Wisconsin: 150 years of Lime operations in Fond du Lac County

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One of the last Wisconsin lime operations we will review over the next series of posts includes the vast operations at what was known as Marblehead.  Marblehead is located in Fond du Lac County a few miles south east of the City of Fond du Lac and a short distance Northwest of the present day village of Eden.

Western LIme Eden Plant (Marblehead). 2010.

Western LIme Eden Plant (Marblehead). 2010.

A lot has changed at Marblehead since this picture was taken in 2010.  Western Lime is no more, It was acquired by Graymont Corporation in 2012.  Sadly, the lime kilns shown in the background were removed shortly after.

Over the years a number of companies had lime operations in the Marblehead vicinity.  The earliest operations began in the early 1870’s.  In 1872 Wilhelm Nast and his two sons August and (George) William formed the Nast Brothers Lime and Stone Company.  The Nast Brothers were prominent in the Wisconsin lime industry, starting operations in two other locations we previously visited—the operations at Nasbro and Crusher.

In 1886 the Western Lime and Cement company was incorporated.  In 1921 there was a major consolidation of operations, with the merger of Western Lime several companies including the Nast Brother’s operation.   William Nast was named General Manager, with V.F. Nast serving as secretary and August on board of directors.

Western Lime continued operations through the Great Depression, though only the plants at Brillion, Marblehead, High Cliff, and Nasbro remained in operation after the 1930’s.

Western Lime itself was purchased by the Graymont Corporation, a global leader in the production of lime and limestone products.  After 92 years of operation by six generations of family ownership, Western Lime ceased to exist.

Fast Firing

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Wood fired shaft kilns produced lime products in Wisconsin for nearly 100 years.  In the latter years of their life span, operators of these plants looked for ways to increase production while saving costs.  The plant at Nasbro, Wisconsin was no exception.  The operational changes can be readily seen by close examination of two of the kilns at the Nasbro plant prior to its’ closure in the late 1980’s.

Wood was the primary fuel for these plants through most of their operating history.  At first, most of the wood was supplied by local sources, but as the nearby sources dwindled, most of the wood was shipped in from northern Wisconsin.

At Nasbro, wood was eventually replaced by gas for ‘cooking’ the lime.  Evidence of this can be seen by the addition of gas lines into the openings where wood was used to stoke the fires.


According to Duey Valle, a 25 year veteran of Western Lime, significant modifications were made to Nasbro kilns 1 and 2.   In the early 1970’s, covers were installed on these two kilns along with blowers to keep hot air circulating in the kiln.  These were known as ‘fast firing’ kilns.  The doors on the kiln tops (still visible) would keep the hot air in the shaft thereby speeding up the process of producing lime.  The workers would close the lids and start the blowers when not filing the kiln.


Instead of taking a lime ‘draw’ every four hours, these fast firing kilns reduced the time between draws to two hours.  The workers did not like these kilns because it was a lot more work putting in more stone and taking more frequent draws.

The exteriors of the two fast firing kilns bear more evidence in changes to how these kilns operated.  Additional exterior opening were added, either on the back side of the kiln, or in the place of one of the older wood firing doors. These tended to be smaller, metal lined openings with small exterior doors. The purpose of these opening is not clear.  It is possible that these were poke holes that the workers could use to help the lime rock through the firing zone. Or perhaps there were used to regulate the firing temperatures.

Eventually, the decision was made to cease operations at Nasbro in the late 1980’s..  Many of the workmen were relocated to the plant at nearby Marblehead where a new rotary kiln had begun operation. With the shutdown of the kiln operations, the small company town of Nasbro was gradually abandoned, leaving little trace of its existence.  



Nasbro Lime Plant

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In the late 1980’s, one of the last operating shaft kiln operations in the state of Wisconsin ceased operation.    The lime plant at Nasbro was shut down as production moved to the east to the plant at Marblehead (Eden) where a new, modern rotary kiln operations was replacing production of the older shaft kilns. Most of the nearly two dozen homes in the small town of Nasbro were torn down, and only 5 limestone kilns stand today as a reminder of nearly a century of lime operations.  

 Lime operations in the iimmediate Nasbro area data back a decade or more prior to the Nast Brother’s kiln operations. The Happe Brothers of nearby Knowleton operated a quarry and single lime kiln the area around 1890.

Another operation, Andrae Lime Works also built and operated two shaft kilns in the 1890’s. These two shaft kilns were part of an operation that would become the Standard Lime company (described in previous posts) commenced sometime around or before 1890 under the name of Andrae Lime Works.  

In 1897 the Nast Brothers, who operated a lime plant in Marblehead, purchased the Happe Brothers lime and quarry operation and began operations in Nasbro. A single shaft kiln was built in 1897 and the remaining 4 shaft kilns build by 1900.  Production at the plant averaged 10 to 13 tons of lime per shaft per day. These are the lime kilns that stand sentinel today.

The Western Lime Company was formed in 1921 from the consolidation of the Nasbro Brother’s Lime and Cement Company  and other several lime producing companies in east central Wisconsin.  

The plant at Nasbro was one of a few lime production facilities that survived the economic downturn of the Great Depression.  The nearby Standard Lime plant struggled to remain in business.  Ultimately it succumbed to the downturn of business from the Great Depression. 

The Nasbro plant remained in operation until the late 1980’s.  Production was moved to the Western Lime plant at Marblehead.  All but the five stone kilns were demolished in 1988.