111 Years Ago today: 19 DIE IN LANDSLIDE; MORE HOUSES IN PERIL—Haverstraw Residences and Occupants Engulfed in Great Pit.—BRICKMAKERS WILL PROFIT—Disaster Laid to Their Encroachments and $200,000 Worth of Clay Dumped on Their Property.—The NY Times*
On this day, please join us in remembering those who were lost in the catastrophic landslide of 1906.
*N.B. The NY Times reported 22 deaths, actually, a total of 19 people died Jan. 8, 1906 including four volunteer firemen, the local rabbi and members of several prominent local families.
“In its brickmaking heyday, Haverstraw was a robust, bustling village. Brickmaking was as typically American as roast turkey or the Liberty Bell. Almost every successful brick manufacturer served his apprenticeship between the handles of a brick barrow or behind a “stiff tail” or in the clay pit. Included in Haverstraw’s roster of noted men are many who worked in the brickyards as boys.
The excavation of clay for use in bricks caused Haverstraw’s greatest catastrophe, the landslide of January 8, 1906. The clay under a 100 foot deep embankment slipped out and the Rockland Street business section and a number of homes from Liberty to Jefferson Streets were destroyed. 19 lives were lost and only a providential snow storm arrested a fire that would have burned a large section of Haverstraw.” Excerpt from BRICKMAKING IN HAVERSTRAW —A PERSONAL RECOLLECTION - South of the Mountains, Vol. 6, No. 1; Jan – Mar 1962
To read the article in its entirety, visit our recently digitized South of the Mountains, Vol. 6, No. 1; Jan – Mar 1962 here: http://www.hrvh.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/hsrc/id/919/show/913/rec/1
To see the full NY Times article: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A03E4DD1438EF32A25753C1A9679C946797D6CF