Watch Monday, April 21, 2014 at 10:30pm on WMHT TV.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Hudson River Valley was the undisputed world capital of brick making. At its height, more than 130 brick yards teemed with workers from Haverstraw to Albany. The growth of the brick-yards coincided with the explosive growth of building in New York City.
This 30-minute film demonstrates how bricks, so ubiquitous in New York City that they go unnoticed, are a prism through which we can view larger issues including immigration, industrial innovation, labor relations and urban planning. The last Hudson River Brick Yard closed in 2002, ending three and a half centuries of brick making on the Hudson.
