Born 1859, Died 1927
Married: Anna Margaret Taylor
Byron Bechtel, born in 1859 in Doon, was the son of Isaac Bechtel who was a brickmaker by trade. When Isaac bought the Waterloo Brickyard on Allen St. in Waterloo about 1876, he moved his family there. Byron, as he grew up, helped his father to make bricks. In 1892 he took over management of the operation. Along with his brother Wilson, he enlarged the capacity by finding ways to make bricks faster and fire them more economically. He invented various machines used in making bricks including disintegrators, stone separators, automatic side and end cutters, open air artificial dryers and the famous Bechtel hacking and trucking system. About 1910 the clay in the Allen St. yards began to run out and he sold the brick plant to the Reitzel family who were contractors in the home-building industry. Then Bechtel had the clay pits filled in, mainly with Waterloo Town garbage. He subdivided this area into buildings lots, calling the development “Fairview.” After 1915 he was appointed insurance inspector for the Waterloo Mutual Fire Insurance Company to which he had a special relationship. He had married Anna Margaret Taylor, the daughter of Cyrus Taylor, one of the founders of that company. As well, he was instrumental in forming the Buckberrough and Bechtel Insurance Agency.
Sources:
1. Obituary, October 27, 1927 Waterloo Chronicle
2. Ellis Little, Brickmaking in Waterloo Township, Waterloo Historical Society, Volume 82, 1994.
3. Daily Telegraph [Waterloo Co Outlook Ed.], August 1914
4. Historical Atlas
Byron Bechtel Biography
Description
- Creator
- Little, Ellis, Author
- Media Type
- Text
- Item Type
- Articles
- Description
- This is a handwritten biography of Byron Bechtel from the Ellis Little Papers. This biography has been transcribed exactly as written. Ellis Little was a local historian, who was the principal of Elizabeth Ziegler Public School.On his retirement, he invested much of his time in researching and writing about Waterloo's history. The Ellis Little Papers consist of extensive notes, papers and historical works.
- Notes
- To see the original document please visit the Ellis Little Local History Room at the Main Branch of the Waterloo Public Library
- Date Of Event
- 1859 -1927
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Bechtel, Byron ; Taylor, Anna Margaret ; Bechtel, Isaac ; Taylor, Cyrus ; Bechtel, Wilson
- Corporate Name(s)
- Bechtel Brickyard ; Waterloo Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; Buckberrough and Bechtel Insurance
- Local identifier
- ELP 51.15 and ELP 63.41.13
- Collection
- Ellis Little Papers: Men and Women of Our Past
- Language of Item
- English
- Copyright Statement
- Uses other than research or private study require the permission of the rightsholder(s). Responsibility for obtaining permissions and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Location of Original
- Ellis Little Papers
- Contact
- Waterloo Public LibraryEmail:askus@wpl.ca
Website:
Agency street/mail address:35 Albert Street, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 5E2
- Full Text
