Lehigh Valley Silk Mills | |
 Lipps & Sutton Silk Mill in Fountain Hill, Pennsylvania, June 2013 | |
   | |
| Location | Jct. of Seneca and Clewell Sts., Fountain Hill, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°36′16″N 75°23′37″W / 40.60444°N 75.39361°W |
| Area | 1.7 acres (0.69 ha) |
| Built | 1886–1904 |
| Architect | A.W. Leh, J. Stewart Allam |
| Architectural style | Vernacular |
| NRHP reference No. | 93000356[1] |
| Added to NRHP | April 29, 1993 |
The Lehigh Valley Silk Mills were a collection of mills located in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The industry began in 1881 and thrived throughout the Second Industrial Revolution. The Lehigh Valley Silk Mills also refers to a specific company that owned the Lipps & Sutton Silk Mill and Warren Mill. The first silk mill in the Lehigh Valley opened in 1881 and was followed by the opening of many others. By 1900, there were twenty-three silk establishments in the Lehigh Valley, making Pennsylvania the second largest producer of silk in the world.
The silk industry in Pennsylvania peaked in the late 1920s due to cheap labor, mainly from immigrant workers' children and wives. However, after the Great Depression, increasing labor unrest and competition from other textile industries began to affect the silk industry locally and nationally. By 1953, Allentown had become the number one silk city in the world, but even then, the number of looms had decreased. At the time, only six mills continued to work with silk exclusively. Other mills either shut down due to bankruptcy or shifted to the production of synthetic fibers.[2][3]
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "Dery Silk Mill Historical Marker". ExplorePAHistory. 2011.
- ^ "Lehigh Valley was a giant in the silk industry, local expert tells South Bethlehem Historical Society - PennLive.com". www.lehighvalleylive.com. Retrieved 2016-03-13.