ROCKLAND & ORANGE REPORTING history

Large deposits of clay in the Hudson River brought about the beginning of brick manufacturing in Rockland in 1771; Haverstraw became the brick-making center of the East in 1817 when James Wood discovered that coal dust could be mixed with clay, reducing the price of the bricks.

The enslavement of African and Native people was introduced into Rockland when Dutch colonists settled the area in the second half of the 17th century, and it remained a fact of life until 1827, when all enslaved people became free under New York State law.

Thirty-four school districts had been established in the county by 1829, as compulsory education spread.

With the passing of the Pierson brothers, the Ramapo Works effectively shut down after 1850.

The first schoolhouse was built in Tappan in 1711 and was still in use as a school until 1860.

Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. was born as the Rockland Light and Power Company in Nyack, N.Y. in 1899 when S.R. Bradley organized the company from a number of smaller gas and electric companies.

In 1912, those mergers caught the interest of the Charles H. Tenney Company of Boston, which promptly purchased the growing concern.

In 1958, the Rockland Light and Power Company merged with Orange and Rockland Electric Company, took its name and became the modern corporation Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc.