St. Thomas’ brick supplier closes its doors

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The brick manufacturer that gave St. Thomas buildings their iconic look has laid its last brick after 128 years in business, but the university’s image won’t change much because of it.

Mankato Kasota Stone Inc., the provider of St. Thomas’ signature stone, announced in early July that it will close its doors after the Great Recession slowed building projects and demand for architectural supplies dwindled.

Doug Hennes, vice president of university and government relations, said the Mankato Kasota Stone Inc. closing will not pose much of a problem for the “St. Thomas look” in the future.

McNeely Hall, built in 2006, is one of many St. Thomas buildings that features brick from Mankato Kasota Stone Inc. The business is closing its doors after 128 years. (Photo courtesy of St. Thomas)
McNeely Hall, built in 2006, is one of many St. Thomas buildings that features brick from Mankato Kasota Stone Inc. The business is closing its doors after 128 years. (Photo courtesy of St. Thomas)

“Bottom line is that we do not believe the Mankato Kasota Stone Inc. closing will affect our future building projects because another company (Vetter Stone) remains in business,” Hennes said in an e-mail.

St. Thomas hired the company to build the facade of many buildings like Aquinas Hall, O’Shaughnessy Educational Center, Murray-Herrick Campus Center, McNeely Hall and all of the Minneapolis campus buildings.

Aquinas Hall was the first building constructed with Mankato Kasota stone in 1931. In 2003, St. Thomas commissioned the company for a final project: to construct the School of Law building on the Minneapolis campus.

The Anderson Athletic Recreation Complex and Anderson Student Center, St. Thomas’ two most recent building projects, were constructed with stone from Vetter, which mines its stone from the same region Mankato Kasota did.

Baihly Warfield can be reached at warf3860@stthomas.edu.