The Murphysboro Paving Brick Company, a large industry situated at
Murphysboro, Illinois, is one of the concerns which have in late years made
the industrial interests of Jackson county become a potent factor in the
business world, and have assisted in building up and developing this part of
the country in a manner that could have been accomplished, perhaps, in no
other way. The agitation for good streets, probably fostered by the advent
of the automobile, has caused even the smallest and poorest of towns and
villages to make improvements in the way of street paving, and as the center
of a community that is the home of progressive, wide-awake citizens,
Murphysboro offers all the advantages that could be found for a business
carrying on operations in Southern Illinois.
This company was
organized March 31, 1909, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars,
which has been increased to one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, and the
present officers are William H. Hill, of East St. Louis, president; H. D.
Sexton, of East St. Louis, vice-president; and H. H. Jenkins, of
Murphysboro, secretary and treasurer. Owning a fifty-acre tract of land, the
company uses about twenty-five acres, giving employment to one hundred and
twenty-five persons. In 1911 the output, which had formerly been but six
millions yearly-, had increased to eleven millions, this enormous increase
being due to the fact that an innovation was made in the manner of
manufacture, which not only has been a success financially, but produces a
better grade of brick. Both large and small brick are manufactured, and the
output of 1911 would pave twenty miles of street. In addition to furnishing
nearly all the paving brick for the southern Illinois towns, the company
ships to Memphis, St. Louis and Chicago and to other points in the country.
William H. Hill, the president of this thriving industry, and one of
East St. Louis, representative business men, is a native Illinoisan, having
been born in the village of Summerfield, June 4, 1867. He received his
education in the public schools, Poster Academy at St. Louis, and in a
business college at Poughkeepsie, New York, and after some business training
succeeded his father, who was a building supply dealer. Mr. Hill continued
in that enterprise until 1909, and also carried on general contracting at
East St. Louis. In addition to being president of the paving brick company,
he acts in the same capacity for the Queen City Quarry Company, of East St.
Louis, which is located at Alton, Illinois, and a director of the Southern
Illinois National Bank and the Southern Illinois Trust Company, both of East
St. Louis.
On November 5, 1890, Mr. Hill was united in marriage with
Miss Jennie Thomas, of East St. Louis, and two children have been born to
this union, namely: Gertrude E. and Ruth Jeanette. Mr. Hill is a consistent
member of the Methodist church, while fraternally he is connected with the
Masons, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree and belongs to the
Shrine, Knights Templar and Commandery, and with the Elks and the Knights of
Pythias. Mr. Hill is an excellent organizer, and his talents in this line
have not been confined to his own interests, as he has always been a leader
in movements for the betterment of civic conditions. Although he has been in
business in Murphysboro for only two years, he has attained a secure
position in the esteem of the citizens of that community, and the character
of the enterprises with which his name has been connected has shown that
this confidence is well merited.
Extracted 11 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from 1912 A History of Southern Illinois, by George W. Smith, volume 3, pages 1425-1426.