Franklin Carpet Mills, 1879
2139-2145 East Huntingdon Street, Philadelphia PA 19125
(northwest corner of Trenton Avenue)
© Carmen A. Weber, Irving
Kosmin, and Muriel Kirkpatrick, Workshop of the World (Oliver
Evans Press, 1990).
Robert Carson, an Irish
immigrant, began his business, the Franklin Carpet Mills,
in 1872. In 1879 he built a three story brick power mill,
with a corbelled brick cornice on the northwest corner of
Trenton Avenue and Huntingdon Street. Carson produced
ingrain carpet with 85 hands, mainly men, and a 40
horsepower steam engine. The mill contained forty-one
Jacquard power looms, as well as twenty-five hand
looms. 1
The one story
brick office building faced Huntingdon Street.
1 Hexamer General Survey #1938 (1885),
"Franklin Carpet Mills, Robert
Carson."
Update May
2007 (by
Torben Jenk):
Both the brick building on the corner and the concrete
framed building to the west survive in stable condition.
The windows are boarded, but deliveries are made. A
bronze plaque near the entrance on Huntingdon states,
"EDWIN BORGH, TEXTILE FIBERS." Edwin Borgh and Edwin
Borgh, Jr., are still the owners of record and
directories list the business.
