Workshop of the World

stories of industry in & around Philadelphia

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Hexamer General Survey #687 (1873), "Solomon Wild's Frankford Woolen Mill."

Frankford Woolen Mill
, c.1827
1244 Adams Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19124 (west side below East Wingohocking Street)

© Barbara M. Auwarter and Joyce Halley, Workshop of the World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).

The Hexamer Survey of 1873 1 states that there were "buildings erected from 1827..." on this site. At the time of this survey, Solomon Wild (or Wilde) owned the Frankford Woolen Mill which was supervised by his brother, Joseph.  Seventy-five hands "(15 Men, 10 Boys, and 50 Girls)" were employed to manufacture doeskin and yarns with "Wool extracted from Cotton and Woolen Rags by chemical operations, done on the premises."
 
In 1888,
2 the site was still known as the Frankford Woolen Mill. However, in 1889, 3 the site was listed as Calcutta Mills (Mixed Mills) with the building to the west housing a machine shop, wool carding, store room, and mule spinning, and the building to the east housing cotton carding, cotton spinning, and mule spinning.

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Hexamer General Survey #2332 ((1890), "E.S. Handy, Sr., Assignee, Calcutta Mills."
 
By 1894,
4 Edward S. Handy, Jr.'s firm occupied the entire mill site as the Bingham Works; by 1910, 5 it was known as Stanley Manufacturing Company; and by 1920, 6 Robert McGowan & Sons, Mills. Today the western part of the mill is occupied by Dartco Manufacturing at 1244 Adams Avenue and the eastern part by Precision WeldFab Company at 1250 Adams Avenue.

1  Hexamer General Survey #687 (1873), "Solomon Wild's Frankford Woolen Mill."
2  Philadelphia City Atlas, 1888, 23rd Ward, Plate 25
3  Hexamer General Survey #284, "Wilson's Frankford Woolen Mills."
4  Philadelphia City Atlas, 1894, 23rd Ward, Plate 1
5  Philadelphia City Atlas, 1910, 23rd Ward, Plate 3
6  Philadelphia City Atlas, 1920, 23rd Ward, Plate 3

Update May 2007 (by Torben Jenk):
Occupied by an auto repair business. Stable but poor condition.


See also:
Hexamer General Survey #1546 (1881), "Calcutta Mills, C.S. & J.P. Jones."
Hexamer General Survey #2332 ((1890), "E.S. Handy, Sr., Assignee, Calcutta Mills."