Brick House: Jersey Shale

Hillsborough's Glen-Gery Brick Jersey Shale Plant, often referred to as "Shale Brick" by long-time Hillsborough residents, no longer exists. Those driving by its former Hamilton Road location will now see a field of rubble and, maybe, some pieces of building...

The History of Glen-Gery Brick, founded in 1890 in Pennsylvania, says that in 1988 "Glen-Gery purchased the New Jersey Shale Brick Manufacturing Corporation. Located in Somerville, Jersey Shale [was] the only brick plant in the Garden State."

Unfortunately this corporate story goes on to tell about updates in other factories - robotics, high manufacturing capacity, new kilns and packaging, state-of-the-art computer management - that left the old Shale Brick plant in the dust.