The story of Haverstraw is a story of industry. And the story of industry is a story of immigration. As we mark the end of Hispanic Heritage month, we dipped into the archives of the Haverstraw Brick Museum to learn more about the hispanic community in Haverstraw. The history of the community stretches back to the mid-1800s, when immigrants came to Haverstraw to work in the brickyards and learn the brick trade. A distinctive aspect of the brick industry here was that it did not necessarily require land ownership; in a model piloted by James Wood, a Haverstraw native, many early brick-making sites were built on leased land and with leased machinery. As he famously said, “Brickmaking is a poor man’s game.”

The first wave of hispanic immigrants to the region came from Cuba, the most notable of whom was Juan Jacinto Jova. Jova moved from New York City to Roseton, NY, near Newburgh on the western side of the Hudson River, in 1874. Jova was a sugar trader, and thought he’d try his hand at cultivating sugar cane. Quickly though, he realized that the industry to be part of was brick-making. The brick industry’s business model allowed for individuals to lease a single machine and a small plot of land—at an affordable price—which quickly led to a supply of bricks that the lessor could turn into a tidy sum.

Lithograph of the Rose Company Brickyards, Origin unknown, Dan DeNoyelles Collection

The industry spread up the Hudson River in this way, as immigrants learned the trade, amassed enough money through the lease system in Haverstraw, and then purchased their own land to lease elsewhere along the river. Indeed, Jova’s neighbors in Newburgh—David Armstrong at Arrow Brick Co. and John C. Rose at Rose Brick Company—had built successful businesses through this model and Jova wanted in.

In 1885, Jova opened the Jova Brick Company. He tore down the house he had purchased from Armstrong, known as Danskammer, in order to make use of the clay beds underneath. (Today, the front columns of the original mansion, built in 1834, greet visitors to the Storm King Art Center.) Indeed, the Jova site and the Rose Co. next door were located on premier clay deposits; the quality of the bricks was well-known and in very high demand. By one count, the Jova brickyards produced 33 million bricks per season.

Jova bricks, known by their “JJJ” marking, were used in the construction of the Custom House at Bowling Green and in parts of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, among other New York City buildings.

The brick industry was powered by immigrant labor and the workers at the Jova brickyards were mostly Hungarian. Jova provided extensive company housing for its workers near the brickyards. The Jova company store, another common feature of these brickmaking communities, was known for stocking Maillard chocolate, a fashionable product in NYC.

Loading a barge using Scissor pickup at the Jova brickyard, Roseton, Courtesy of Hudson River Brick Manufacturers of New York

Juan Jova died in 1893 at age 61, but he made a major impact on the community. Just two years earlier, he built Our Lady of Mercy, a Catholic chapel in Roseton, in honor of his wife Maria. They offered it as a gift to the Archdiocese of New York, and it remains an active church to this day, where many of the descendants of the original parishioners still come to worship.

After Juan Jova’s death, his four sons took over the brickworks. Known as the Jova boys, they moved the Jova brickworks into the 20th century by adopting new technology, notably the tunnel kiln which allowed for bricks to be fired and dried in the same space. Most importantly, their legacy is one of economics: the Jovas demonstrated a way for enterprising newcomers to make a name for themselves in a profitable industry, through a system of leasing. This model began in Haverstraw and was subsequently duplicated at brick-making sites along the Hudson River.

Written by: Meghan Gelardi Holmes, Historian, Haverstraw Brick Museum

To learn more:

A Brief History of Roseton and Danskammer Point, Brick Collecting
Danskammer, House Histree
Making Bricks in the Hudson River Valley at the Dawn of the 20th Century, Katrina Durbak
The Great Hudson River Brick Industry, George V. Hutton (New York: Purple Mountain Press, 2003)