The Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company (also Denny Clay Company) was founded in 1892 by Seattle pioneer Arthur A. Denny (1822-1899) when he bought out predecessor company Puget Sound Fire Clay Company. Clay's popularity over wood as a building material grew substantially after the Great Seattle Fire in 1889. Raw material was extracted with hydraulic mining equipment from heavy glacial clay deposits in Taylor, Washington (near Black Diamond). By 1905 the company was the largest producer of brick pavers in the world, and ornamental terra cotta from the Renton factory can still be found in buildings in downtown Seattle. The company was bought by Gladding, McBean in 1927 and the mine closed in 1947 when Taylor was condemned to become part of Seattle's Cedar River watershed.

The letterhead on the receipt pictured here identifies A. A. Denny as President; Arthur's son Orion Orville Denny (1853-1916), vice president; George W. Kummer (b. 1851), general manager and secretary; and C. L. Denny (probably another of Arthur's sons, Charles Latimer Denny, 1861-1919), assist manager and treasurer. The receipt was issued to A. A. Denny upon a $575 payment for 102 feet of brick pavement on the west side of Commercial Street (now First Avenue South).