{"nrhp_refnum":"79002168","name":"Hendel Brothers, Sons and Company Hat Factory","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"517--539 S. 5th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.325731810000036,"lon":-75.92594701899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick mill building on the east side of South Fifth Street between Laurel and Willow Streets in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, originally built as a woolen mill and later used for hat manufacture.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is associated with Reading's hat-making industry, which it describes as the city's oldest prominent industry, and with the Hendel family firm that was a leading wool and fur hat manufacturer. It also treats the building as an example of 19th-century heavy timber mill construction, one of the few remaining in Reading.","narrative":"Three-story brick mill on South Fifth Street in Reading, built in the 1850s as a woolen mill and later converted to hat manufacture. Its central wing measures 62 by 130 feet, with three wythes of brick walls, heavy timber girders and columns, and exposed interior floors and roof framing. The building was remodeled by John Hendel & Brothers after 1871 and operated as Hendel Brothers, Sons & Company, which the document describes as one of the most productive hat firms in the nation. The firm shifted from wool hats to soft fur hats in 1897, and at its peak employed one hundred and seventy workers. Production ceased around 1930, and the building was used mainly for warehousing until the 1970s. It is significant for its link to Reading's hat industry and as a surviving example of 19th-century factory mill construction in the city.","period_of_significance":"c.1850","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Acquired by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Reading in 1976 as part of an urban renewal project; the document does not state its current condition or use beyond that.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.685793-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002168.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002168/d19502bf51-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002168/d19502bf51-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hendel_Hat_Factory_Reading.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hendel_Hat_Factory_Reading.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997956","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendel_Brothers,_Sons_and_Company_Hat_Factory","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5713135"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/hendel-brothers-sons-and-company-hat-factory-79002168/"}