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The storied history of The Belden Brick Company
is one of American entrepreneurship, invention &
innovation and a family’s unyielding dedication
to excellence in the art of brick making.
 Our
company’s story officially begins in 1885 when
our founder, Henry S Belden organized
the Diebold Fire Brick Company on the Belden farm. Henry
was born in Canton, Ohio on July 4th, 1840, the son
of Judge G.W. Belden.
Henry became an attorney in the law firm of Belden
& McKinley, of which Judge G.W. Belden was the senior
partner. Incidentally, according to the biography of
William McKinley by Margaret Leech, she describes McKinley’s
visit to Canton in1867, armed with a letter of introduction
to Judge G.W. Belden, as the Belden law firm was well
known in legal circles. William McKinley was accepted
as a partner and then went on to become a US Congressman,
Governor of Ohio and was elected President of the United
States in 1896.
Henry S Belden also entered politics and was elected
Mayor of Canton. At the age of 32 a severe throat infection
forced him to move to the Belden farm with the hope
that the open air would improve his health, which it
eventually did. Now on the farm, Henry discovered large
deposits of coal, shale and clay. He built a small kiln
to study the effects of firing temperatures on clay
and shale. In 1874 he invented the Belden burner, made
of clay, which gave better light than any other type
then in use. He held a total of 13 patents for gasoline
vapor street lights. He secured a large number of contracts
for lighting cities and towns all across the United
States.
In 1876 Henry went to the Centennial fair in
Philadelphia and there saw the original stiff mud brick
making machine.
He became inspired to make paving and fire brick. Henry’s
paving brick was the first known use of paving brick
in the city of Canton. Brick pavements then spread quickly
throughout the county and state.
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