Wallaceton is a small borough that is situated along U.S. Route 322, between West Decatur and Bigler. It was a brickyard town.
The Wallaceton Fire Brick Company began operating in 1881 as a group of Clearfield County investors, including U.S. Senator William Wallace, started the facility.
Clearfield County had many deposits of high-grade clay, which was mined to be processed and fired into building bricks, terra cotta pipe, and good quality fire bricks that were used to line the furnaces, which turned out steel. These bricks could withstand the immense heat of smelting process.
Certainly, Clearfield County had plentiful veins of coal that fired the brickyard kilns that various companies operated along a loop that roughly followed the Route 53, 322 and 879 corridors from Irvona to Curwensville.
For decades, brick making was the second-largest employment opportunity offered in Clearfield County next to coal mining. Railroads were essential for transporting finished bricks to markets.
So, what does a community band of 27 men and boys, have to do with a brickyard? The business models and small-town culture were different, even as late as the mid-1930’s when the photo shown was taken.
Everything in Wallaceton revolved around the brickyard. Churches, small businesses, the fire company, the school, all were dependent upon families who were supported by men who were brickyard employees. This proved true even during the crippled economy of the 1930’s.
People travelled far less than today and were mostly confined to their self-sustaining communities. Radio and newspapers were state-of-the-art communication from the outside world and cars were still a luxury for many families.
People in Wallaceton, and places like it, tended to bond together to form lodges, organizations and community bands. Those with some musical talent went to work at raising what money they could for instruments and uniforms. The Fire Brick Company probably donated a good deal.
The band would provide music for parades, picnics and community gatherings. The guys made live music and gave a welcome respite from the grind of everyday working life.