BRICKS AND SAUSAGE

Elgin, a Texas Main Street city, has been manufacturing both bricks and sausage commercially for over one hundred years. Exactly how many bricks and pounds of sausage is that? A lot. Today, the community produces about 232 million bricks and 3 million pounds of sausage annually. Elgin citizens believe in their product as well, using the locally-made bricks at the turn of the 19th century to construct many of the buildings now comprising the community’s historic district. The district includes fourteen city blocks of commercial and industrial buildings constructed with the bricks, erected from 1872 to 1947, and many have been completely restored. In 1996, the district received National Register of Historic Places designation. Elgin, established in 1872 courtesy of the railroad and the expanding cotton industry, received its railroad depot in 1903 and today it archives much of the artifacts comprising the community’s past. Travelers who work up an appetite while admiring the brickwork may try the local special, the famous Elgin hot sausage, at any of the community’s BBQ restaurants and during area celebrations like Western Days and the Hogeye Festival.