Pictures, books and artifacts present an image of life in Delaware County
mills as seen in the newest DCHS exhibit, “Mill Images from the Delaware
Valley, 1646 to 1876.”
The DCHS Mill display opened last week in conjunction with the County
wide yearlong celebration of Mills. On the weekend of September 28 th and
29 th there will be coordinated Southwestern Delaware County Mills tours, of
which Delaware County Historical Society will participate.
Visitors to the exhibit will see a variety of mill pictures, such as one of the
Skinner’s Cotton Lap Mill along Crum Creek in Edgemont Township.
Books on display include “A Survey of Mills in Delaware County,
Pennsylvania, 1826-1880” by Robert P. Case, Ph.D. with Ellen M. Cronin,
Marianne D. Squyres, Nancy V. Webster, AICP, and H. Dabbs Woodfin,
Ph.D.
Another book on display; “The Chester Mills,” written by Jervas Jefferis Jr.
in 1965, contains such information as the facility grounding grist
occasionally in 1826 then turning its main focus to cutting 310,000 feet of
lumber a year.
Also on view are tools used in these mills such as an iron-spiked hackle or
card, used to comb and clean wool. Also visitors will see materials used in
homes prior to mass production, such as a sample of flax from the College
of Pharmacy Botanical Garden.
A Tape Loom, once belonging to the Lewis family, is also on display and
was donated to DCHS by J. William Lewis of Upland. Prior to that, it had
been in the possession of the Middlekauff family of Charlestown, W. Va.,
and dates back to c.1752.
This Loom was used to make woven tape. Smaller tape was used for draw
strings and wider tape was used for things like rugs and window curtains.
Robert Middlekauff shared some history of the loom in one account.
“Old Aunt Catherine Middlekauff, or Aunt Kitty as we called her, would get
out the little loom for me when quite a little chap, thread it up and get me to
work making tape, just to keep me out of badness and would tell me to take
good care of the loom.”
Middlekauf shared that “Aunt Kitty’s” grandfather made the loom for his wife
before they were married and that “he would court while his girl made
tape.”
“Mill Images from the Delaware Valley, 1646 to 1876” is on display at the
home of Delaware County Historical Society at 408 Avenue of the States in
Chester. It is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday,
Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday; and from 9 a.m. to
2 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month. It is closed on Tuesdays.
Appointments are also available upon request. Parking is free in the lot
behind the building or across the street in the city’s municipal lot.
For more information, ways to get involved or to contribute items of historic
significance, please call 610-359-0832.
The Lewis loom is part of a display highlighting mills in Delaware County.
Pictures, books and artifacts are part of "Mill Images from the Delaware Valley, 1646 to 1876" at Delaware County Historical Society.