{"nrhp_refnum":"91000090","name":"Ashley and Bailey Company Silk Mill","other_names":["Franklin Silk Mill","Leinhardt Brothers Furniture Warehouse"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1237 W. Princess St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"West York Borough","county":"York County","state":"PA","lat":39.95212231600004,"lon":-76.75048575199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-02-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick silk mill in West York Borough, York County, Pennsylvania, on West Princess Street between Princess and Poplar Streets, built c. 1899 as a branch mill of the Ashley and Bailey Company of Paterson, New Jersey.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the mill was the first silk mill built in York and an early industry in what became West York Borough, tied to the local silk trade that supplied Lancaster's umbrella industry. It also calls the building an intact example of local early 20th century industrial architecture with good integrity.","narrative":"Built in 1899 on West Princess Street in West York, this three-story brick mill was constructed for a branch of the Ashley and Bailey Company, a silk firm based in Paterson, New Jersey. Local businessmen arranged for the building, and the trustees provided the land and erected the structure under a ten-year agreement. The mill wove ribbons at first and later produced broad silks. It is regarded as York's first silk mill and one of the first major industries in the area that became West York Borough, which was incorporated in 1904. Its output fed Lancaster's umbrella manufacturing, the city's leading turn-of-the-century industry. The mill closed in 1937 and was later converted to a furniture warehouse. Its long, narrow plan, corbeled brick piers, and regular sash windows remain largely intact, and the building is valued as a well-preserved example of local industrial construction from the period.","period_of_significance":"1899-1937","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and early 20th Century American; Vernacular Industrial","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Vacant after the silk mill closed in 1937; the building stood vacant until 1942 when it became a furniture warehouse, and the document says it was later vacated and offered for sale in 1988.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.722891-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/91000090.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000090/457381b3f4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000090/457381b3f4-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ashley_and_Bailey_Company_Silk_Mill.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:Ashley_and_Bailey_Company_Silk_Mill.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71998708","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_and_Bailey_Company_Silk_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4805648"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/york-county/ashley-and-bailey-company-silk-mill-91000090/"}