From Clay to Community: The Story of Brick in Wilbraham and the Connecticut River Valley
- David Bourcier
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
One of the most common building materials we often take for granted is the brick. Yet for early colonists in the Connecticut River Valley, it was essential, making homes safer, hearths more durable, and industrial buildings stronger. To understand its significance, we first need to look at the history of brick.
Bricks are among the oldest known building materials, dating back to around 7000 BC near ancient Jericho. Early bricks were sun-dried mud, while in Egypt, clay mixed with straw formed stronger blocks, seen at sites like Buhen and Mohenjo-daro. Around 3500 BC, fired bricks were developed, allowing construction in cooler climates. The Romans perfected brickmaking, using mobile kilns to produce standardized bricks for walls, arches, aqueducts, and public buildings across their empire, examples of which remain at Pompeii and the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.
After Rome’s fall, brickmaking declined in much of Europe but survived in Italy and the Byzantine Empire. By the 11th and 12th centuries, the craft spread north, giving rise to the Brick Gothic style in Germany, Poland, and Denmark. By the time of Henry VIII, brickmaking was well established in England, and after the Great Fire of London in 1666, brick became the preferred building material for its fire resistance.
In the Americas, Indigenous peoples had long used sun-dried clay bricks, and European settlers brought their own brickmaking skills. By 1611, brick structures were built in Virginia, often with bricks made onsite. Records from 1621 note that Virginia bricks were even shipped to Bermuda in exchange for food and oil. By the mid-18th century, brick regained popularity in Europe and the colonies for its durability and aesthetic appeal.
The Connecticut River Valley offered ideal conditions for brickmaking. Formed by glacial activity during the Wisconsinan Ice Age, the valley’s soils, including the former bed of Lake Hitchcock, contained fine clay deposits. Early settlers recognized this clay’s value for construction, particularly for fireplaces, chimneys, and, later, entire structures.
Springfield, Massachusetts, founded in 1636 as Agawam Plantation by William Pynchon, saw early brick use in both domestic and industrial contexts. By 1697, one of the first brick kilns in the area was established near present-day Pearl Street. Pynchon himself used locally produced bricks to line his blast furnace in the Sixteen Acres area, marking one of the region’s earliest industrial uses of brick. In colonial Wilbraham, settlers like Nathaniel Hitchcock, who arrived in 1730, most likely relied on brick for a chimney and hearth, valuing its durability and fire resistance. Notable surviving examples include the Abel Bliss House (1744) and Silas Bliss House (1769), both featuring locally made brickwork.
The Josiah Day House in West Springfield, built in 1754, remains the oldest known brick saltbox-style house in the United States and a testament to the region’s early brick craftsmanship. Early brick yards were typically located near rivers and streams, which supplied water needed for tempering the clay. Clay was dug, mixed, molded, sun-dried, and then fired in kilns or open clamps. Each batch of bricks reflected local clay’s color and mineral content, creating subtle variations in red, brown, and orange tones.
Brick construction expanded in Wilbraham during the 19th century, paralleling industrial growth. The Collins Paper Company, built in 1872, was the town’s largest brick building, requiring two million bricks for its five-story mill, L-shaped machine room, and rag-bleachery. Supporting the mill were brick tenements for workers, and the railroad also made extensive use of brick for its freight house, water tower, and station. Commercial buildings, like the Hollister Block (c. 1895), combined brick durability with aesthetic appeal, housing retail and residential spaces.
Wesleyan Academy, established in 1825 in the center of town, featured several brick buildings accented with locally quarried brownstone. The first of these, Old Academy Hall, was constructed in 1824 and set the tone for the campus’s enduring architectural character. Plans for Wilbraham Memorial Hall in 1886 envisioned a primarily brick structure, but only the basement and lower walls were completed. By the late 19th century, brickmaking had been revolutionized by the Industrial Revolution. Mechanization expanded the range of usable clays, sped production, and enabled mass distribution. Whereas traditional hand operations could produce roughly 36,000 bricks per week, mechanized plants by the 1920s were capable of manufacturing as many as 12,000 bricks in a single day.
By this time, brick had become the dominant building material in many New England towns, prized for its fire resistance, strength, and aesthetic qualities. From early hearths to grand industrial mills, brick helped shape the Connecticut River Valley, linking the land’s glacial past to the enduring built environment of Springfield, Wilbraham, and the surrounding region.
Before the late 19th century, bricks were almost always made by hand, a labor-intensive craft requiring strength, skill, and patience. Because every step was done manually, it was not uncommon for a brickmaker’s fingerprints, or the marks of tools and gloves, to remain pressed into the soft clay. These small impressions have become poignant traces of the people behind the work, offering a direct, human connection to the past.
Brickmakers were often local laborers, sometimes hired seasonally, and their efforts were essential to the growth of towns and industrial centers. Each brick they molded became a literal building block for homes, schools, mills, and public buildings. The fingerprints they left behind were more than accidental; they were subtle signatures, quiet, enduring reminders of lives devoted to creating something that would last for generations.
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