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Everything falls into place for Acme Brick’s 124th birthday

Words: Ron TaylorMost “topples” are built with dominos but this installation used real Acme Brick: solid paving brick from Acme’s Tulsa Plant, as well as several hundred specialty brick from other Acme plants.

The display was designed and executed by Domino Dan Beckerleg, a master “toppler” who has produced similar events for other major corporations. Dan traveled to Fort Worth from his home Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and labored for two days to construct his design in the 1,500 square-foot Central Plaza of Fort Worth’s famed Water Gardens. “It’s been a challenge to scale up from dominos to Acme bricks but it’s been fun and definitely a learning experience, said Dan. For one thing, dropping a brick on your toe is a much different experience than dropping a domino.”

If not the longest, this was surely one of Dan’s heaviest topples with the 4,300 bricks weighing in at 15,518 pounds (seven and a half tons). The actual topple only took about four minutes.

The Acme Brick 124th birthday brick topple just before the first brick falls
The Acme Brick 124th birthday brick topple just before the first brick falls
Just prior to the topple, Acme Brick Company President and CEO Dennis Knautz shared some thoughts about the event and put Acme’s 124 years into perspective. Knautz commented, “What better place to celebrate Acme Brick Company’s 124th birthday than in Fort Worth’s Water Gardens surrounded by historic Acme buildings like the former Texas And Pacific Headquarters and Terminal just two blocks away. This wonderful art deco structure from 1931 has been repurposed into luxury condominums. I think the Acme Perla brick look great considering they will be 85 years old this October. We should all be that lucky.”

The Fort Worth Water Gardens is a 4.3 acre urban park designed by architect Philip Johnson and dedicated in 1974. It is in the south end of downtown Fort Worth, bounded by Lancaster Avenue, Houston Street, the Fort Worth Convention Center and Commerce Street.
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