Factories

By the late nineteenth century, the Lehigh Valley was the home of cigar factories and silk mills.  Automation, large tobacco companies and the Great Depressions combined to usher in the decline of the cigar factories. With its production of predominantly weaving mills that made products for the New York garment trade, silk mills survived into the  twenty-first century. In 1923, the Dixie Cup Company moved from New York City and, after World War II, experienced manufacturing expansion in United States. The items (photographs, books, reports, and oral histories) represent the history of these industries. A few items for zinc factories, saw mills, and a paint manufacturer are also included in this topic. For more about the silk industry, see “If Looms Could Speak: The Story of Pennsylvania’s Silk Industry.”  To learn more about the history of Dixie Cup, see “Hugh Moore Dixie Cup Company Collection, 1905-2008.”