About Acme-Ochs

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Our Mission

We are dedicated to providing our customers with superior products and superior services in an environment where people care for themselves, each other and their work.

Who We Are

Acme-Ochs consists of two divisions:

  • Acme-Ochs Brick Manufacturing
    • Minnesota's only brick manufacturer
    • Astounding variety of brick sizes, shapes, textures and colors
      • residential and architectural products
      • sizes include utility, norman, closure, king, queen, modular
      • multiple brick blending, tumbling and rockface capabilities
  • Acme-Ochs Brick & Stone
    • Twin Cities' largest distributor of brick, natural stone, manmade stone, pavers and other masonry product accessories
    • Exclusive Arriscraft dealer in Twin Cities

Our History

Ochs Brick Company began in 1891 when Adolph Casimir Ochs literally stumbled on an outcropping of red clay along the banks of the Cottonwood River in southwestern Minnesota. He started making brick and, at the time, Ochs Brick Company was one of 50 brick manufacturers in the state.

Making brick was a grueling process at the turn of the century. Workers used shovels to mine clay, which was mixed with water in a horse-driven mixer and pressed by hand into maple molds. The bricks were air-dried, then fired in wood-fueled beehive kilns, one of which still stands today at the brickyard in Springfield.

Iowa native Elmer Apt bought the company from Ochs in 1954. Eventually clay miners began to use steam shovels and primitive backhoes, horses were replaced by trucks and tractors, and oil fuel kilns replaced the wood-fired systems. But it wasn’t until the first tunnel kilns were built in 1959 that modernization took hold. Production skyrocketed and the plant went from producing thousands of handmade brick each year to turning out hundreds of thousands of brick each week.

In 1964, Ochs Brick Company was purchased by Springfield resident G.M. Pieschel, who recognized that further modernization would be required to meet the growing demand for brick in numerous sizes, shapes and colors. Modernization came in the form of a new 258-foot-long gas-fired kiln that expanded manufacturing capabilities to more than 30 million brick per year and featured computer-enhanced technology.

In 1968 Ochs Brick and Stone was established in the form of new sales offices and distribution yards in Eden Prairie and North St. Paul, along with a developing network of distributors nationwide. Located in Edina today, it is the Twin Cities’ largest distributor of face brick, natural stone, manmade stone, pavers and glass block, as well as other masonry product accessories.

In 1999, Ochs Brick Company was purchased by Pieschel's daughter and son-in-law, who made it among the world's most state-of-the-art brick producers. The most recent improvement was a $9 million expansion of the Springfield plant. The 51,000-square-foot expansion includes a new high-tech kiln and dryer, which doubles production capabilities to 60 million brick per year and implements the newest capabilities in brick quality, color, shape and size.

In early 2008, Ochs facilities became part of Acme Brick Company, the world's largest U.S.-owned brickmaker. Acme acquired the Ochs Brick Plant in Springfield and the Ochs Brick & Stone sales facility in Edina.

Our Future

Acme-Ochs has flourished where others have failed because of our willingness to adopt – and adapt – new technology for the brickmaking process. Today the Springfield plant is one of the most advanced and efficient in the nation, allowing us to consistently produce the high-quality brick that builders, architects, masons and homeowners expect.

Despite the dramatic changes in production over the last 100 years, our commitment to responsive, friendly and knowledgeable service has never faltered. You can rely on Acme-Ochs’ staff of sales, service and production personnel to meet the challenge of your next project.

And, whether you are building in California or New York – or anywhere in between – you can get Acme-Ochs products through our family of quality distributors. Our network is dedicated to the same core values of excellence that have always defined our company.

Through hard work and innovation, Acme-Ochs has laid the foundation for success and is building a bright future one brick at a time.

 

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Acme-Ochs Brick & Stone • P.O. Box 106 Springfield, MN 56087 • Ph. 507-723-4221 Fax. 507-723-4223