Black Labor and the Rise of Hydraulic Press Brick

Cost: $5; doors open at 6:30pm. Note: our cover charge helps support equipment and other expenses to bring you these talks. No one who wants to attend will be turned away for lack of funds**.**

"Formerly enslaved Black men helped build one of St. Louis’s great industrial enterprises. Yet the history of Hydraulic Press Brick is more often told through its machinery, its staggering production, and the “brick barons” who profited from its success. The people who made, carried, and laid those bricks left a legacy of their own, one that reveals both the opportunities emancipation created and the unequal power that shaped Black labor in the decades after the Civil War."

The Speaker:
"Drew Quon is a born-and-raised St. Louisan who has worked in the St. Louis-area historical and museum field for 14 years. His experience spans numerous institutions, including the Saint Louis Art Museum, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Historic Daniel Boone Home, and the St. Louis County Library’s History and Genealogy Center."

Learn more about the talk and the speaker at https://unseenstlouis.substack.com/p/unseen-stl-history-august-2026