He didn’t believe it when an expert brickmaker told him he couldn’t make bricks from the dirt of his plantation. He decided to try anyway. He was an ambitious man who wanted to build a brick house, a church, a school and a mill on his plantation which he called “Bethany.” In 1859 and 1860 he proved the experts wrong. Today those brick buildings still stand. They’re part of Missouri’s State Park System and a National Historic Landmark.