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.

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."

"..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."

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.

'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.