Diamond Silk Mill

Diamond Silk Mill
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
View from Hay Street
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Location	Junction of Ridge Avenue and Hay Street in East York, Springettsbury Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°58′35″N76°42′0″W / 39.97639°N 76.70000°W / 39.97639; -76.70000
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

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]

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]

Gallery

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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. John J. Calabrese (February 1992). National Register of Historic Places Registration: Pennsylvania SP Diamond Silk Mill. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved January 13, 2026. (Downloading may be slow.)
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.