In a message dated 12/6/00 8:55:42 AM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< (1) Can someone please tell me what year it was that hollow concrete block
 was first made and used in construction? >>

"Throughout the nineteenth century attempts had been made to cast concrete
into building blocks, but the modern industry began with Harmon S. Palmer's
invention of a cast iron blcok machine, which he patented in 1900." Pamela H.
Simpson, Harry J. Hunderman and Deborah Slaton, *Concrete Block* in
*Twentieth Century Building Materials*, ed. THomas C. Jester, McGraw Hill,
1995, p 80.