Hudson River History: A Rich Heritage

From a 500-acre estate to a rustic cabin in the woods,
from the Hudson River School to the American Revolution:
These are the events, people and places that make our Hudson River Heritage so rich.

The above print, "View from West Point" is from a steel engraving by W. H. Bartlett, c. 1850
(from the author's collection).
The background for this page is from bricks found in the Hudson River area of New York State
where hundreds of brick-making factories existed from the late 1700s into the 1940s. See the entire collection HERE.

Video Now Available On Demand. Click for Free Preview:

This important film tells the dramatic story of how two generations of Hudson River fishermen and environmentalists
fought a decades-long battle to protect one of the nation's great rivers. Featuring Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Hudson River Walkway

The Historic Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge
Reopened as the Walkway Over the Hudson in 2009

Photo Essay by Rob Yasinsac, HudsonValleyRuins.org

HUDSON * * * FULTON * * * CHAMPLAIN

During 2009, signature events spanned the Hudson Valley Corridor from New York City to Quebec including a series of celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the historic journeys made by Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain, as well as the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton's steamship voyage on the Hudson River.

Hudson River History.com is pleased to provide the following informational links.

2010 Events Calendar

Newburgh Beacon Bay Celebrations

A Celebration of Discovery

Hoopla On the Hudson!

1909 Memorabilia

Photo Highlights from the Hudson River Quadricentennial Celebration

Hudson River Events, People and Places from A to Z

America's First River: Bill Moyers on the Hudson: "It's quite a river, the Hudson, flowing from near the Canadian border down past New York harbor to the Atlantic... And it's quite a story we report in AMERICA'S FIRST RIVER, from the American Revolution to the epic battle between Jack Welch, former Chairman of General Electric, and people up and down the Hudson who fought him tooth and toenail over PCBs dumped in the river by GE."

Bannerman Castle Trust "Pollepel: An Island Steeped in History"

Bannerman's Island Arsenal From the acclaimed Hudson Valley Ruins web site.

Books Hard to find gems of Hudson River history, mystery and lore.

Books: On-Line Many out of print books or hard to find articles. Free to read on-line!

Boscobel The house was completed in 1808 for the States Dyckman family and is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Federal architecture in the country.

Catskill Archive

Celebrate New York's 400th! 2009: The Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial

Clermont Established in 1728, this 500 acre historic site is the former estate of Robert Livingston, Jr.

Croton Point Tales of life at "Interwasser" woven with world-famous wine, brickmaking and War of 1812 watermelons.

Danskammer Point: the Edward Armstrong mansion where a Cuban sugar broker, Juan Jacinto Jova, built a brickmaking empire.

Delaware and Hudson Canal: an engineering feat of pre-industrial America that brought a new form of energy from the hills of Pennsylvania to the Hudson River.

Henry Hudson's Third Voyage 400 years ago, Hudson, sailing into the mouth of a wide river near today's New York City (later named the Hudson River), was unsuccessful at finding a way to the Orient. He then was arrested in England for sailing under another nation's flag.

Historic Hudson Valley A network of Historic Sites in Sleepy Hollow Country.

Hoopla On the Hudson Award-winning Hudson Valley historian Lincoln Diamant has translated his father’s day-by-day reports of the Great 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration. 2009 will mark the...

Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial. During 2009, signature events will span the Hudson Valley Corridor from New York City to Quebec including a series of celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the historic journeys made by Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain, as well as the 200th anniversary of Robert Fulton's steamship voyage on the Hudson River.

Hudson River Chains to block the British at Ft. Washington, Ft. Montgomery and West Point.

Hudson River Heritage. Committed to preserving the unique character of the Mid-Hudson Valley's historic architecture, rural landscapes and scenic viewsheds through advocacy and education. HRH acts as steward for the Hudson River National Historic Landmark District, a 32-square-mile area stretching from Staatsburg, in Dutchess County to Clermont, in Columbia County, This area is rich with country estates, small hamlets, and breathtaking landscapes.

Hudson River Lights Information, pictures and histories of all the Hudson River lighthouses. Includes some virtual tours.

Hudson River Maritime Museum The only museum in New York State exclusively preserving the maritime history of the Hudson River, its tributaries, and the industries that developed around it.

Hudson River Maritime Museum's History Pages:
Henry Hudson and Early Hudson River History
Lighthouses
Steamboats
Hudson River Sloops in the Age of Sail

A Hudson River Portfolio Prints, maps, photographs, guidebooks, histories and literature from the 19th century have been scanned and organized for the student, scholar and general audiences. Material is from the collections of the New York Public Library

The Hudson River School

Hudson River Valley Heritage. Provides online access to historical materials from New York State's Hudson River Valley.

Hudson River Valley Institute In 1996 Congress formed the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area to recognize, to preserve, to protect, and to interpret the nationally-significant history and resources of the Valley for the benefit of the nation. The Hudson River Valley Institute is at Marist College and its mission is to study and to promote the Hudson River Valley and to provide educational resources.

Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area to recognize, preserve, protect and interpret the nationally significant cultural and natural resources of the Hudson River Valley for the benefit of the Nation.

Hudson River Books Hard-to-find gems of Hudson Valley history, mystery and lore.

Hudson Valley Ruins Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape. Includes the Hudson Valley Demolition Alert.

Newburgh Bay Celebration, 2009

Olana: the estate of famed Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church.

Rosendale Natural Cement

Scenic Hudson: protecting the natural beauty of our valley and the unique character of our towns.

Slabsides The rustic cabin where John Burroughs wrote some of the essays that made him America's foremost nature writer of his time.

Stony Point. Tour the Battlefield and Lighthouse. A State Historic Site

Theodore Roosevelt's Famous Trip to the Headwaters

Virtual History Tour of the Upper Hudson Region A River Runs Through It, edited by Rebecca Haynes

Virtual Trip on the Historic Hudson River A Web Site for Students, Educators, and those interested in the History, Culture, and Conservation of the Hudson River Valley. Features William Wade's 1846 Panorama of the Hudson River.

West Point Foundry

Selected Hudson River Books

The Hudson's Worst Steamboat Disaster!

The Wreck of the Henry Clay

Special Discount Price
Now in 3rd Printing

THE GREAT HUDSON RIVER BRICK INDUSTRY

A Quadricentennial Commemoration

HOOPLA ON THE HUDSON
The 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration

DEFENDING THE HUDSON
In the American Revolution

THE STAMP OF F.D.R.
New Deal Post Offices in the Mid-Husdon Valley

THE BATTLE OF FORT MONTGOMERY
A Short History

A History of Hudson River Towns
from the perspective of
the great Hudson River Brick Industry

(a work in progress)

Athens

Brockway (Beacon)

Coeymans

Croton-On-Hudson

Dennings Point (Beacon)

Dutchess Junction (Beacon)

East Kingston (Whiskey Point)

Fishkill Landing (Beacon)

Poughkeepsie (incl. Arlington)

Roseton

Rosendale

Saugerties (Glasco)

Ulster County
"The Gentleman from Ulster," a history of the MAYONE Brick Co. in Athens and Glasco, NY

Verplanck (incl. Montrose and Crugers)

The Olde Brick Store:

Hudson River Books

Hard-to-find gems of Hudson Valley
lore, history and mystery

We hope you'll have as much fun browsing through these books as we did finding them for you.

If you have any questions, Contact Us

The extent of the brick-making industry

At its height, the brick industry along the Hudson River comprised over 130 brick yards in the cities and towns of Croton, Verplanck, Crugers, George's Island, Peekskill, Haverstraw, West Haverstraw, Grassy Point, Garnerville, Stony Point, Tomkins Cove, Jones Point, Tappan, Thiells, Roseton, Newburgh, Beacon (Dennings Point), Cornwall, Dutchess Junction, Fishkill, Chelsea, Brockway, Kingston, East Kingston, Steep Rocks, Saugerties, Ulster Park, Malden, Athens, Glasco , Ulster Landing, Stockport, Catskill, Hudson, Coeymans, Schedack Landing, Stuyvesant and Mechanicsville in New York plus Hackensack and Little Ferry in New Jersey.

Ferrier & Golden and C.C. Abeel Brickyards, Catskill, NY
(From a drawing by L.R. Burleigh, Troy, NY 1889)

On the Eastern shore of the Hudson in Westchester County, one of the areas brickmaking took place was Croton-on-Hudson where William A. Underhill established a brick works in 1837. We have created a special page on this historic site with notes from Sarah Gibbs Underhill called "Tales From Croton Point."
Business was booming. The New York metropolitan area was experiencing a building craze. In 1923, the price of brick commanded $20 per 1000.

Haverstraw

A major center for the industry was Haverstraw (in Rockland County, NY) located at the widest point on the river, where prime raw material in the rich, blue clay, and a skilled local workforce combined to make the area the brickmaking capital of the world, as it had been called.

Starting in 1771 the area along the river (now Haverstraw Bay County Park) was used for brick making by Jacob Van Dyke from Holland. He made bricks by hand which were used for fireplaces and chimneys. In 1815 James Wood, an Englishman, came to Haverstraw and established his first brickyard.
The industry grew quickly. In about 1850, James Eckerson constructed one of the largest brick plants along the Hudson River in Haverstraw. In 1863, a schooner (sailboat, wind-driven) named E. Washburn was launched - it carried 60,000 bricks, which was enough for a moderate-sized house. Steam-powered vessels took over about 1880. In 1883 there were 41 brickyards and over a century of manufacturing. 148 brands were moulded in the vicinity. In North Rockland alone, the business employed some 2500 men in the brick plants, and 10,000 men, women and children were supported by the industry. In a single year 300,000,000 bricks were shipped out of the Haverstraw Bay area for the NY metropolitan markets, which at times were using over a billion bricks annually.

Brick Manufacturers
in the Haverstraw District in 1910
as listed in "Within These Gates" by Daniel deNoyelles
Name of Company Number of Machines B. J. Allison & Co., Haverstraw, NY ...................... 7 Wood & Allison, Haverstraw, NY ........................... 4 U. F. Washburn & Co., Haverstraw, NY .................... 11 L. H. Washburn, Haverstraw, NY ........................... 2 Washburn & Fowler, Haverstraw, NY ........................ 3 Garner Brick Works, Haverstraw, NY ....................... 6 Malley Brick Co., Haverstraw, NY ......................... 7 Excelsior Brick Co., Haverstraw, NY ...................... 7 DeNoyelles Brick Co., Haverstraw, NY .................... 13 Everett Fowler, Haverstraw, NY ........................... 4 D. Fowler Jr. & Co., Haverstraw, NY ...................... 5 Peck Brick Co., Haverstraw, NY ........................... 6 C. & G. A. Archer, Haverstraw, NY ........................ 2 T. McGuire & Son, Haverstraw, NY ......................... 4 Lynch Bros., Haverstraw, NY .............................. 4 Lynch & O'Brien, Haverstraw, NY .......................... 2 E. N. Renn & Co., Haverstraw, NY ......................... 4 J. Nicholson, Haverstraw, NY ............................. 2 James Byrnes, Haverstraw, NY ............................. 2 Dunnigan, Mrs. F. L., Haverstraw, NY ..................... 3 Bennett, Mrs. William & Sons, Haverstraw, N.Y. ........... 4 T. Shankey & Son, Haverstraw, NY ......................... 4 Snedeker Bros., Haverstraw, NY ........................... 2 Reilly & Tanney, Haverstraw, NY .......................... 2 Tanney & Coyne, Haverstraw, NY ........................... 2 T. Tanney, Haverstraw, NY ................................ 4 Morrissey & Co., Haverstraw, NY .......................... 5 Fowler & Son, Haverstraw, NY ............................. 6 Shankey & Morrissey, Haverstraw, NY ...................... 4 Archer Yard No. 2, Haverstraw, NY ........................ 4 Brophy & Morrissey, Haverstraw, NY ....................... 4 Riley & Rose, Haverstraw, NY ............................. 3 Riley & Marks, Haverstraw, NY ............................ 4 F. Brophy & Brother, Haverstraw, NY ...................... 3

Brickyards along the West Hudson Shore from North to South:

Fowler & Washburn, Haverstraw Brick & Clay, D. Fowler Jr. & Co., Mrs. Reid, B. J. Allison & Co., Mrs. Scott, Archer Heirs

B.J. Allison, Allison & Archer, J. Peck, Snedeker Bros, Eckerson, Archer Heirs, J. E. Erickson, Gillies & Fredericks, Excelsior Brick Co., D. Fowler
(From F.W. Beers Rockland Cty Atlas, 1891, David Rumsey Collection, Cartography Associates)

Landslide!
On January 8th, 1906 a landslide occurred in Haverstraw, NY when clay beneath a 100 foot embankment slipped away. This was caused by the gradual weakening of the earth as the excavation of clay deposits moved in from the river toward residential areas.

It started when a crack on Rockland Street widened and the earth gave way, burying five streets and leading eventually to a three block long gaping hole that claimed 19 lives and 21 homes. Only a fortunate snowstorm averted the spread of a fire that would have destroyed a large portion of the village. Some charged greedy brickmakers with undermining the land and ignoring signs of its instability.
From "THE PICTURESQUE HUDSON" by Clifton Johnson,
The MacMillan Company, New York, 1915:

At the edge of the Haverstraw shore, for fully two miles, there is an almost continuous row of rough, wide-spreading sheds used by the brickmakers, and from many of them the smoke was lazily rising. On their landward side the clay sediment, which had been deposited in this nook in the bygone time when the stream was wider and deeper than now, has been removed leaving a vast hollow. The workers even build coffer dams out into the river to rescue the valuable brick clay. Much more than half of all the brick made along the whole course of the river comes from here. The clay has been excavated in places till the buildings of the town are close to the precipitous bank, and their situation seems in some instances decidedly perilous.
One autumn afternoon a few years ago a Haverstraw policeman noticed that the walls of a brick building near the edge of an excavation were cracking, and he saw a loosened brick fall out. He went to the owner of the property and told him there was going to be a landslide; and as the clay there had been taken out to a depth of one hundred and eighty feet the prospect was quite disturbing. Warning was given to the families that lived in the threatened neighborhood, but they had dwelt so long in the vicinity of the danger that they thought the alarm needless and went to bed as usual. About midnight, however, the clay bank gave way carrying down houses and people into the frightful chasm. Rescuers were soon on hand, and they were busy amidst the debris when there was a second slide that overwhelmed everyone in its path. The wreckage caught on fire, and the scene of devastation was brightly lighted. About a dozen houses had gone down into the depths and a score of lives were lost. Among those who perished were a father and mother. When the first houses slid into the chasm theirs hung on the verge and they had time to take their children to a point of safety. That done they went back to get their bank book. They were never seen afterward and not even their bodies were recovered.

A plaque commemorating the event is located on Division Street and the Haverstraw Brick Museum is conducting a fundraising drive to build a new monument. The Journal News has a great article on the event in observance of the 100th anniversary. The Haverstraw Brick Museum has a wonderful animated diorama that shows exactly how the Great Landslide took place.

Richard VerValen, James Wood,
David Strickland

Brickmakers were confounded by the problems they encountered with the oftentimes irregular shape of the building blocks, which at that time were made almost entirely by hand. A few rudimentary tools had been introduced to help streamline production and in 1830, Nathaniel Adams of Newburgh and Cornwall, NY, invented a moulding machine. However this required human or animal labor to operate.
The real break-through came in 1852, when Richard VerValen developed his brickmaking machine. This connected to a steam-powered drive shaft called a "power-line."

VerValen, who knew the industry and had "an inventive mind," pondered the dilemma for a time, according to the late historian, author and area resident, Daniel deNoyelles, in his book, "Within These Gates."

Before VerValen invented his machine in 1852, the clay was forced into the moulds by hand, and therefore had to be rather soft - and when the bricks were dumped out of the moulds, many became misshapen. VerValen's machine made it possible to use stiffer clay. Quoting from deNoyelles:

"..the VerValen machine forced the raw clay into the moulds with a machined packer. The moulds held six brick paralleling each other. Under this newer method a stiffer clay could be used, which made a brick more square. The moulds were drawn by hand from a revolving sander where the iron oxide was added to the flour-like moulding sand. This dusted the insides of the moulds and allowed the soft brick to slip easily to the surface on the drying yards. Of course the filled mould were first 'struck off' by a two-handed knife about two feet long. This made the brick smooth on the exposed plane. This knife was called the moulder's strike'."

"The tempering of the mixture was effected back of the press by a steel shaft pinned with steel knives which extended into the raw clay, sand, and coal dust which had been conveyed above the press by a chain and bucket elevator."

"Red coloring was added to the outside of the newly-moulded brick by adding iron oxide to the moulding sand in the patent sander ca. 1885. Before that time, brick had been burned in their raw state, resulting in a light pink color with a yellowish tint at times. With the use of red ochre, as some oldtimers called it, the hard-burned brick had a deep red, and in some places, a rich purple hue."
Another machine was invented in 1874 to automatically 'sand' the moulds, so that it could keep up with the VerValen moulding machine.
A Closter, NJ native, VerValen lived in Rockland County, NY as a child. He then left for upstate New York before returning to Rockland (Haverstraw) in 1848, where he worked manufacturing stoves and plows in his foundry.
According to legend, it was in the middle of a Sunday church sermon that VerValen had a breakthrough and came up with the machine design. He patented his machine in 1852 and, its principles were "so workable and so novel to brickmaking" that they were used until a more advanced machine, incorporating some of his original ideas, was developed in the 1920s.

In 1828 brickmaker James Wood discovered that 'culm' - fine coal dust - added to the mixture reduced burning time for a kiln by one-half, from FOURTEEN DAYS to SEVEN. He patented it in 1836:

'Be it known that I, the said James Wood, have invented a new and useful improvement in the art of manufacturing bricks and tiles. The process is as follows: Take of common anthracite coal, unburnt, such quantity as will best suit the kind of clay to be made into brick or tile, and mix the same, when well pulverized, with the clay before [it] is moulded; that clay which requires the most burning will require the greatest proportion of coal-dust; the exact proportion, therefore, cannot be specified; but, in general, three fourths of a bushel of coal-dust to one thousand brick will be correct. Some clay may require one eighth more, and some not exceeding a half-bushel.
The benefits resulting from this composition are the saving of fuel, and the more general diffusion of heat through the kiln, by which the whole contents are more equally burned. If the heat is raised too high, the brick will swell, and be injured in their form. If the heat is too moderate, the coal- dust will be consumed before the desired effect is produced. Extremes are therefore to be avoided. I claim as my invention the using of fine anthracite coal, or coal-dust, with clay, for the purpose of making brick and tile as aforesaid, and for that only claim letters patent from the United States.
JAMES WOOD.'
Dated 9th November, 1836.
Wood, an Englishman, came to Ossining, NY in 1814 but found little clay there so he leased a yard across the river (from Daniel deNoyelles) in Haverstraw and established his first brickyard in 1815. Later he invented a machine for tempering clay.

David J. Strickland of Cleveland, OH, the Bronx and Beacon, NY, patented numerous brick-making inventions. In 1911 he came out with Improved Brickmaking Machinery. In 1920 he created the Strickland Automatic Brick-making Machine. In 1925, a low-pressure steam brick dryer. Strickland is also credited with creating oven-sized brick and introducing the coloring of common brick in the New York market.

Decline

Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, things began to change. Cheaper European bricks flooded the market, and the focus shifted to lighter building materials such as glass, aluminum and steel. Veneers over poured concrete foundations were used instead of brick for building. The Great Depression sounded the industry's death knell, by 1933 the price for 1000 bricks fell from $20 to $9.50. World War II delivered the final blow.

When the last yard, Rockland Brick Co., dismantled its only remaining kiln shed in 1941, part of the shed was delivered to a World War II munitions plant for scrap.
Hudson River Bricks were the subject of a book,"The Great Hudson River Brick Industry" (Purple Mountain Press, 2003), by George V. Hutton, whose family owned a factory in Kingston, N.Y., from 1865 to 1980. To obtain this landmark book at a Special Price Click Here.

Another fine book "Within These Gates" (Copyright ©1982) by Daniel deNoyelles is available at the Haverstraw Brick Museum. At the turn of the century, the deNoyelles Brickyard was a major player in the North Rockland brickmaking industry.

Sources Consulted:

"The Gentleman from Ulster" by Mike Mayone (whose great grandfather Joseph founded the MAYONE brickyard in Athens, NY)
"Haverstraw's place in history assured by machine," Suzan Clarke, The Journal News, March 28, 2003
"A Brief History of Rockland County," Thomas F. X. Casey, Rockland County Historian
"Brickmaking Along the Hudson River," Regina M. Haring
http://www.co.rockland.ny.us/environ/county/haverstraw.htm
http://www.thejournalnews.com
http://longislandgenealogy.com/1891/Surnames/E.htm
Quotations from Daniel deNoyelles "Within These Gates", Copyright ©1982
Photos from http://www.townofhaverstraw.us
Burleigh drawing:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@field(NUMBER+@band(g3804c+pm005490))