Diamond Silk Mill

Diamond Silk Mill, also known as York Silk Manufacturing Company, is a historic silk mill located at Springettsbury Township, York County, Pennsylvania. It was designed by architect John A. Dempwolf and built about 1900. The mill is a 3 1/2-story, brick building with heavy timber frame trussing on a stone foundation, and measures 50 feet by 300 feet. It has a hipped roof, and features an octagonal 100-foot high smokestack and decorative corbelled brick cornice in the Romanesque Revival style.[2]

Diamond Silk Mill
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
View from Hay Street
Location	Junction of Ridge Avenue and Hay Street in East York, Springettsbury Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°58′35″N 76°42′0″W
Area	9 acres (3.6 ha)
Built	1900
Architect	Dempwolf, John A.
Architectural style	Romanesque
NRHP reference No.	92000949[1]
Added to NRHP	July 24, 1992

In 1910, the mill's business had increased such that it was noted by an industry periodical as becoming a full-time operation and hiring additional workers.[3] Silk manufacturing would become one of York's most important industries, feeding Lancaster's manufacture of umbrellas. A decline began with the Great Depression and continued with the introduction of synthetic fibers in the late 1930s, for which most York mills did not have equipment.[2]

The mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.[1]

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  Interior court

See also

• Ashley and Bailey Company Silk Mill, contemporary silk mill 4 miles west in West York, Pennsylvania
• Ashley and Bailey Silk Mill, contemporary silk mill 15 miles east in Marietta, Pennsylvania

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes John J. Calabrese (February 1992). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Diamond Silk Mill" (PDF). Retrieved December 18, 2011.
3. "Mill News" (PDF). Posselt's Textile Journal. Philadelphia: University of Arizona. October 1910. p. xi. Retrieved December 2, 2015. The Diamond Silk Mill, which has been operating on short time basis, [sic] is now running full time. Sufficient orders has [sic] been received, which will necessitate the employment of additional hands.