{"nrhp_refnum":"85001896","name":"Meinig Glove Factory-Meinig, E. Richard, Co.","other_names":["Ellmar Mills"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"621--641 McKnight St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Reading","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.34555989000006,"lon":-75.93673930028686,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-08-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A group of brick factory buildings for the E. Richard Meinig Company, a glove manufacturer, on McKnight Street in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. The complex was built in stages from 1905 to 1958, with the earliest buildings on the west side of the street and later plant expansion on the east side.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the factory complex, with its intact millscape, illustrates Reading's glove and hosiery industry and the German immigrant contribution to it. It is described as the city's only specialist glove firm from 1911 to after World War II. Its buildings, including dyehouses and engine houses, are presented as surviving evidence of two generations of factory construction.","narrative":"Brick factory buildings on McKnight Street in Reading, Pennsylvania, built in stages between 1905 and 1958, form the former plant of the E. Richard Meinig Company. Ernst Richard Meinig, a German-born glove maker, established the firm in 1906 as a subsidiary of the Nolde and Horst hosiery company, and by 1906 it occupied the west-side buildings A and B. The complex is regarded as a surviving example of the local glove industry, which began as a cottage trade and became mechanized. Its factory and dyehouse spaces, slow-burning mill construction with heavy timber posts and beams, and fire towers reflect that development. The company was the only specialist glove firm in Reading from 1911 until after World War II. During the Depression it made the Shalimar label goods, and in the war it produced insulated gloves and mittens for the military. Buildings C through F on the east side date from the post-World War I expansion, when hosiery production was added.","period_of_significance":"1906-1935","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Both properties presently function as light industrial spaces, with offices and knit sportswear and embroidery craft-kit assembly.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:34.240915-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/85001896.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001896/0da788c0e4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001896/0da788c0e4-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glove_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:Glove_Factory_Reading.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"04001227","name":"Queen Anne Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/queen-anne-historic-district-04001227/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997928","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meinig_Glove_Factory-E._Richard_Meinig_Co.","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6810183"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/meinig-glove-factory-meinig-e-richard-co-85001896/"}