Page 9 - North Haven Magazine Issue 8 Spring 2019

to one million bricks were stacked 50 rows high in the kiln. Wood was still
burned to generate the heat needed to fire the bricks. A WPA guide de-
scribes the burning kilns as “the appearance of a major conflagration in the
brick sheds - clouds of smoke roll out from beneath the eaves and through
the siding and an acrid odor fills the air for miles around.” Once the bricks
were thoroughly dried they were shipped out by rail.

Though brick making season only ran from April to November, workers
needed for wood cutting and carting were employed year-round. Such a
large enterprise required skilled and able bodied workers, and Frank Stiles
found the best. He knew that the province of Alessandria in Italy had clay
deposits and brick yards similar to North Haven, so he would go to New
York, meet the Italian immigrants, and shake their hands - if their hands
were rough and calloused he knew they would be suitable workers. He
pinned a train ticket to their lapels and directed them to the train going to
North Haven!

By 1930 only two brick yards remained - Montowese Brick Company
and IL Stiles and Son, with Stiles being the larger of the two. The 1930 Grand List shows that IL Stiles had 23 houses, 14 barns, and
13 manufacturing buildings, 11 horses, but only 4 trucks. The houses provided lodging for the brick yard workers, where they had
comfortable rooms and good meals. Employees also had access to a company store where purchases could be charged until they were
paid at the end of the season. Frank Stiles was known to be a good and generous employer - there are several stories of him providing
care above and beyond that required of an employer. Only once was there a strike, and those striking were promptly replaced with
new employees! Because of the steady work, modernization and streamlining, and a continuing demand for brick, the brick making
industry in North Haven weathered the depression. But by 1940 only IL Stiles and Son is included on the Grand List - and by 1958 it
too was gone; sold to Plasticrete Corporation as a manufacturer of cement block. Looking back at the brick industry’s history, though,
helps to explain why we have the diverse and prosperous town that we have - founded on hard work, an understanding of the value
of local resources, and the willingness to live and work as a community united.

Information provided by Lucy Brusic’s book Amidst Cultivated and Pleasant Fields.
Photographs from the North Haven Historical Society archives.

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