Brandreth Pill Factory facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Brandreth Pill Factory
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A 2009 view of the west elevations of office and main building, partially demolished in 2015
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | Water St., Ossining, New York |
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| Area | 5.6 acres (2.3 ha) |
| Built | 1836–86 |
| Architect | Calvin Pollard |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival, Second Empire, Italianate |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002792 |
| Added to NRHP | January 10, 1980 |
The Brandreth Pill Factory is a very old group of buildings in Ossining, New York. It's located right on Water Street. These buildings were once a busy factory where a famous medicine called Brandreth's Pills was made.
The factory started making pills in the 1830s. It was one of the first big factories along the Ossining waterfront. Many of the original buildings burned down in the 1870s. But some, like the oldest one from the 1830s, are still standing. This old building was possibly designed by a famous architect named Calvin Pollard.
The factory was also special because it used new building materials. One building might be the first in Westchester County to use corrugated iron. The main factory building also had some of the very first Otis elevators ever installed!
The factory stopped making pills in the 1940s. Today, some smaller buildings are still used. The main factory building is empty. In 1980, the factory was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's an important historical site.
Contents
Factory Buildings and Location
The Brandreth Pill Factory site is about 5.6 acres big. It's located along the northern part of Water Street in Ossining. The factory is very close to the Hudson River and the railroad tracks. You can see trains from Metro-North and Amtrak pass by.
The land here is flat because it's so close to the river. To the north, there's a steep, wooded hill. A stream flows from this hill into the Hudson River.
Different Buildings on Site
As you go north on Water Street, you'll see the first group of buildings.
- One building, between the street and the train tracks, is a brick storage building. It has a pointed roof and arched windows.
- East of the street, there used to be Brandreth's office (now gone). There was also a building for mixing and packing pills, and another for making boxes. The oldest building in the group is a storage facility.
A bit further back are two single-story buildings.
- The one to the north has a Carpenter Gothic style. It has a pointed roof and special windows shaped like pointed arches. This building was used for drying pills and making boxes. It also had office space.
- The building to the south is a flat-roofed brick building where pills were made.
The oldest building in the whole factory complex is located at the edge of the woods. It's a two-story building with a flat roof. It has special columns called Doric pilasters on its corners and between the windows. These columns have granite bases and tops. The windows also have granite sills and tops. A newer concrete block part has been added to the south side. Inside, much of its original look is still there.
About 150 feet further north, between the road and the tracks, is a storage building made of corrugated iron. This building was built on the original factory site. Its wooden frame is covered in iron, which you can see from the outside. The roof has simple, classic designs made of iron-covered wood.
Even further along Water Street, about 300 feet, is the main factory building. This was a large, L-shaped brick building with three stories. It had a special roof called a mansard roof made of slate, with four brick chimneys. The tallest chimney was very high. The windows and doors had brick tops. The roof had special dormer windows. Inside, you could see the original brick walls and wooden beams.
The main building also had two additions. One was a small machine shop. The other was a large two-story section with a corrugated iron roof. There are also empty spots where other buildings used to be.
To the west of the main building, near the street, is a small brick office building. It's one and a half stories tall with a pointed roof. It has decorative wooden brackets and painted brick designs. The windows are rectangular with granite sills and tops. The front door has stone steps and a curved roof over it. Inside, you can still see beautiful old woodwork and ceiling decorations.
History of the Brandreth Factory
The Brandreth Pill Factory became famous because of Benjamin Brandreth and his popular pills.
Benjamin Brandreth and His Pills (1835–1939)
Benjamin Brandreth was born in England. He took over his family's medicine business in the 1820s. He was very good at advertising! He used many testimonials, which are like reviews from people saying his pills worked. At the time, people believed diseases came from "blood impurities," and his pills were supposed to help with that. His business grew in both England and America. In 1835, he moved to New York with his family.
His business kept growing. In 1836, he moved to Ossining, which was then called Sing Sing. He bought land and built his factory there. By 1837, he was working from two buildings. One of them is the Greek Revival building that is still standing today. It might have been designed by Calvin Pollard, who also built other buildings for Brandreth in Ossining. Early pictures show this building had three stories and a small tower on the roof. It was right on the Hudson River.
Ossining was a great place for Brandreth's business. He could get vegetables for his pills from farms nearby. Then, he could ship the finished pills down the Hudson River to New York City. His factory was the first real industrial building on the Ossining waterfront.
After a trip to sell pills down the Mississippi River in 1838, his business grew even more. Benjamin Brandreth became an American citizen in 1840. He also became involved in local politics, serving as the village president and later in the State Senate. In 1848, he started making another product: Thomas Allcock's Porous Plasters. The Hudson River Railroad was also being built through Sing Sing around this time. This helped his company ship products even further.
For the next 20 years, the factory kept growing. It made 1.2 million boxes of pills every year! Each box sold for 25 cents. The pills were so famous that writers like Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe even mentioned them in their books. P. T. Barnum, the famous showman, even recognized Brandreth for his amazing advertising skills.
In 1872, a fire destroyed many of the factory buildings. But Brandreth quickly rebuilt them. He wanted to use the newest technology. So, the storage building used corrugated iron, which was very new then. And the main building got some of the first Otis elevators!
Benjamin Brandreth passed away in 1880. His son, Franklin, took over the business. As time went on, the government started to regulate medicines more. So, the factory began making other things. During World War I, they even made liners for ammunition boxes for the military.
Franklin Brandreth retired in 1928. His grandson, Fox Brandreth Connor, took over. By then, people weren't buying as many pills. The factory started making new products like nail polish, mannequins, and even animal traps called "Havahart."
Later Years and Changes (1940–2015)
In 1940, the company sold some of the factory buildings. A company called Gallowhur used them to make insect repellent and suntan lotion. After World War II, the rights to the pill formula were sold. Brandreth's company, now under the Allcock name, continued making products in the 1870s buildings until 1979. Later, another company used them to make steel office furniture.
Eventually, the buildings became empty. In the 2000s, a local developer wanted to turn the main factory building into new homes. They planned to create 132 new housing units, with 28 inside the old factory building. They hoped to make them "green" homes.
However, there were problems with the plans. In 2007, new maps showed that the property could flood easily from the Hudson River. After big storms like Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the factory area actually flooded up to four feet! This made it very difficult to build homes on the ground floor.
Because of the flooding risks, the owners decided to demolish part of the main building in 2015. The village said the permit for demolition had expired. But the owners said they had followed all the rules.
Images for kids
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The building after Plateau Associates began demolishing it in April 2015
