A clay factory was already established and was leased by W.S.Dickey Clay Manufacturing Co. in 1888. Samuel Currier is credited with operating the first brick factory in the area. In 1888, a brick plant started its operation. They produced bricks stamped "Brownington" , and this was known as chuffy. A few years later the plant was purchased by the Dickey Company whos main office was in Kansas City. As the town began to grow a committee worked together to plan for the future. They planned the location of trees and sidewalks and an agenda for hard surface streets. The first such surface was from the Dickey factory. Cart loads of tile fragments were distributed over town and the residents spent a great deal of time breaking the tile and placing it by hand on the streets.for betterment of the town.
The Great Depression of the thirties made its mark on Deepwater. Work at the factory was slow and not only were men without jobs but a Leaky Roof was without a profitable amount of business. The line, which was purchased by the Frisco Railroad Company, closed its tracks to the north, and trains entered and left quickly from the south.
The 1940's brought about another challenge for the town. Men left for World War Two. Others left to war plants. The Dickey factory shut down for a period of time for the lack of of laborers. After the war, residents looked for other settled ways of life, but after the strike in 1947 and again in 1949 the Dickey Company shut down for good. Without a good source of revenue the railroad depot also closed in 1954. The last passenger train to serve the town was met with sad celebration the original source of power for the town was now gone and the local mining company was now coming to an end.
