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THIS ACCLAIMED BOOK IS NOW BACK IN PRINT!
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THE GREAT HUDSON RIVER
BRICK INDUSTRY:
COMMEMORATING THREE AND A HALF CENTURIES OF BRICKMAKING
by George V. Hutton
A graduate of Williams College and Yale School of
Architecture, Hutton was a retired architect with firsthand experience in
brickmaking at the Hutton Company in Kingston, New York.
EPILOGUE FOR A DEPARTED INDUSTRY
"The Hudson River brick industry went down before an array of
overwhelming forces, including large demographic changes, competition by
new technologies, and by brickmakers in distant locations that had
achieved access to the New York market, as well as new environmental
standards. During its lifetime, nothing can gainsay that industry’s
indispensable contribution to the very existence of New York City, where
the record of that accomplishment is everywhere to be seen. With the
exception of IBM, there is nothing comparable to that industry in the
Hudson Valley today in terms of size and consequence of its production
....
The colorful history of this, now almost-forgotten, major industry is
here told in entertaining and lucid style....This
is the most comprehensive book on the subject written for the general
reader, but still provides basic technical information. A landmark book
in its field. --Arthur G. Adams, author of The Hudson Through the Years and The Hudson River Guidebook
This long overdue account is recommended reading for anyone who wants
to learn about this fascinating industry. Without this writing,
essential technical information would have vanished forever. --William
Minnock, President (retired), Powell and Minnock, Brickmakers
George Vandeusen Hutton passed away in August of 2008. He was a very learned gentleman. I think we can all appreciate the completion of his book, now in its 4th printing. --Fred Rieck, BrickCollecting.com
Soon enough, virtually all vestiges of the physical presence of all that
intensive manufacturing activity will have observably disappeared. The
great majority of the substantial changes to the landscape, resulting
from the excavation operations, will not be discernible due to
overgrowth, a condition that is nearing completion at this writing.
Development of brickmaking sites for other purposes will also obliterate
all signs of past endeavors. Perhaps one of the two graceful
nineteenth-century brick boiler flues at East Kingston (the Shultz
yard’s flue being a personal favorite), built to power the steam engines
that drove the brick machines, will be treasured as the sole remaining
industrial artifact of three and one half centuries of the existence of
the great Hudson River brick industry."
At the beginning of the twentieth century, brick manufacturing was the dominant industry on the Hudson River. One hundred thirty manufacturers employed seven to eight thousand workers. It was the largest brickmaking region in the world, supplying vast amounts of this most essential building material to the fastest-growing city in the world. Spanning three and a half centuries, this industry ceased to exist in the year 2002. Included here are accounts of technological innovations, manufacturing methods, periods of enormous production, and wrenching business crises that transformed the entire industry. Elements of this history include the arrival of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Hungary and the American South, as well as labor relations.
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Illustrations from the book courtesy of the New York State Archives.