Sometimes, the names of places in Warren County are exactly as they appear.

Starbrick is one of those.

The name comes from the Star Brick Company.

How original, right?

“This now important industrial suburb of Warren owes its name to the somewhat transitory existence of a corporation named The Star Brick Company,” according to an article on local place names by deceased local historian Ernest Miller. “The firm was located on the western end of the property now owned by the General Concrete Products Co.

“It was first organized in 1899 by well-known Warren businessmen and the kilns were located near the railroad, and the clay pits were in the rear.”

The company marked its work in a similarly original way — with a star.

Miller writes that the bricks “were in great demand because of the lively building spree going on in Warren” at the turn of the century. Many of those brick buildings from that period remain today.

“About 1908 the plant failed, probably due to the fact that the clay on the land became exhausted,” the article states. “These bricks were in great demand among the boys of Warren; they melted lead, poured it into the star design, and inserted a heavy safety pin in the star as the lead hardened.

Evidently, that process produced a “fine replica” of a sheriff’s badge.