The D'Hanis Brick and Tile Company was organized in 1905 by Louis Carle, Sr., F.J. (Joe) Carle, Charles Wallrath, Richard Wallrath, and Gus Birkner. Its brick plant in D'Hanis began operating after Charles Wallrath discovered a superior clay deposit near his home on the banks of Seco Creek, one mile west of D'Hanis, with high iron content that helped bind clay brick when fired in kilns. Before immigrating to D'Hanis from Germany in the early 1870s, Wallrath had worked as a brick mason, and he first made crude but usable sun-dried bricks from Seco Creek clay, later improving his methods by hand-forming bricks in molds and drying them in hand-dug pits fired by mesquite wood. In 1905, Gus Birkner came to D'Hanis seeking better clay because the material used at his L&L Brickyard between Luling and Lockhart produced inferior brick. His search led him to Wallrath and then to Louis Carle, Sr., and F.J. Carle, and after he successfully fired a wagon load of D'Hanis clay in his Luling kilns, he offered to sell his brickmaking equipment to the Carles for $15,000. The D'Hanis brick plant was then established, and the company grew over time into a modern brick and tile manufacturing facility whose products were sold throughout Texas. Wallrath and the Carle brothers signed a 99-year lease to mine the clay and transport it by rail to the new plant. Originally the plant had five kilns fired by mesquite wood, each with a capacity of 350,000 bricks, and equipment from Birkner that included a brick press making 20,000 bricks a day, a 40 H.P. engine, two pumps, and a pulverizer. Within a few years, Louis Carle, Sr., and F.J. Carle acquired full ownership, with Louis serving as president. The plant survived both world wars and the Great Depression of the 1930s. F.J. Carle died in an automobile accident in 1946, and Louis Carle, Sr., died of natural causes in 1950 after serving as president until his death. After more than 100 years, the company remains in operation.