Unlike St. Louis, most of the bricks aren't stamped HYDRAULIC. Rather, it's EGYPTIAN. I think I may have stumbled on a nice research project (pun intended). Come to think of it, there is a local company on Main Street called Egyptian Stationary & Office Supply.
Interesting.
I would assume these companies have "Egyptian" in their name in reference to wider southern Illinois' nickname (especially in the 19th century) - Little Egypt.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Illinois#Origin_of_.22Little_Egypt.22_name