Hexamer General Survey #1809-1810 (1883), "Economy Mills, Sevill Schofield, Son & Co."
Economy Mills, 1857
Venice Island, between the Schuylkill River and the Manayunk Canal, Philadelphia PA
© Sara Jane Elk, Workshop of
the World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
Across Rector Street and to
the south of the Blantyre Mills along the canal, a part
of Sevill Schofield's Economy Mills remains as a vestige
of one of the largest mid-century textile manufactories
in Philadelphia. When completed in its entirety, the
complex stretched from Lock Street on the south, north to
Rector Street, occupied both sides of the canal, and
totally covered Venice Island between the Schuylkill
River and the canal. The four-story stone mill that
remains along the north side of canal near Lock Street
represents a very small portion of the original complex.
To the rear of it, and across what was a cartway to Main
Street, stands a two-story, eight-bay structure used as
the blacksmith's forge, the machine shop and the
carpenter shop.
Sevill Schofield's skill in the mechanics of textile
production in combination with years of favorable markets
for his products, resulted in the development of the
Economy Mills, one of the most important textile
enterprises in Manayunk. Sevill immigrated from England
at age thirteen with his parents, Joseph and Mallery, and
five of his siblings. The family had come directly to
Manayunk in 1845, presumably as experienced textile
workers to find employment in what was emerging as a
significant textile center along the Schuylkill. After
several years of working for other mill operators and
employing his sons in the process, Joseph Schofield
formed a partnership with James Lee in 1849 to produce
cotton in a mill along Mill Creek, across the Schuylkill
from Manayunk in Montgomery County. 1
Laboring along
side his brothers, Sevill became proficient with each
process of the mill. It was in his father's mill that he
became acquainted with James Dobson, another English
immigrant highly skilled in the mechanics of textile
manufacturing. Their friendship evolved into a
inter-familial relationship that had a significant impact
on both. 2
Dobson later left
the mill to begin his own endeavor in Manayunk producing
blankets with his brother John. Sevill followed nearly
the same path.
In 1857 Sevill left the Mill Creek mill, then operated by
two of his brothers, to purchase and manage a new
endeavor for his family in the McFadden Mill.
3
A first
generation Manayunk mill located near the lower lock of
the Venice Island side of the canal, it occupied the site
he would later expand to accommodate the Economy
Mills. 4
Working with
another brother, Charles, and six laborers they wove and
spun on one floor and leased the other four floors to two
tenants. The small operation of “S. and C.
Schofield” produced “firm spun cottons and
carpet yarn” for a market of handloom weavers
across Philadelphia in Kensington. 5
The success of
this trade expanded the firm enough to dismiss the
tenants and to purchase their machinery.
Nearby the Dobson Brothers operated their blanket mill.
When the Civil War began, they secured contracts from the
United States Government to supply the Union Army with
blankets and convinced their friend Sevill to do the
same. The work earned the families staggering profits,
setting each of them on a course of manufacturing success
that lasted throughout their lifetimes.
Production of contract blankets began in the Schofield
mill in 1861, propelling the brothers into a program of
expansion, as profits began to double each year.
6
In 1863 they
enlarged the mill and in 1864 purchased the Blantyre
Mills, although they did not occupy it until 1869 when A.
Campbell and Company moved out. 7
Although Charles
retired from the business in 1864, giving Sevill sole
proprietorship, the change did not slow the rate of
expansion. In order to confront the continuing need to
accommodate production demands, Sevill embarked on the
construction of a new five-story mill next to the old
mill in 1876. Equipped with machinery and ready for
production, a fire completely destroyed the mill at the
time of its completion. Undaunted, Schofield sailed
Europe to purchase new machinery and immediately rebuilt
the mill.
The 1870s brought with them the introduction of new
products to supplement the Civil War staple, including
"chinchillas, elysians, raze coating" and yarns for
wholesale. 8
In 1875, the
five-story mill which stands today was constructed for
the production of wool yarns. The 1883 Hexamer General
Survey gives the building three numbers: 9 (the first ten
bays from Lock Street), 10 (the next three bays), and 11
(the nine bays after the jog in the building).
Building 9 had coal rooms in the basement level; mixing
and storage of wool on the first floor; carding on the
second floor; lumpers, willows and dusters on the third
floor; ditto on the fourth floor, plus wool pickers as
well.
Building 10 served as the picker house and was physically
separated from the other two sections by stone walls and
heavy iron doors. The picking of rags and wool created
minute particles of dust which presented a combustion
hazard. The thick stone and iron separation protected the
rest of the mill from fire. With the exception of the
first floor, which held wood for storage, mechanical
picking took place on all floors.
Building 11 housed finishing operations, with storage of
products on the first floor, combing and preparing on the
second floor, worsted doubling and spinning on the third
floor, and worsted spinning on the fourth floor.
Schofield maintained a retail store in the textile
district of Philadelphia, listed at 51 North Front Street
in 1866. 9
With offices in
Philadelphia, Manayunk textile manufacturers could broker
their goods to handloom weavers, carpet mills and garment
manufacturers within and beyond Philadelphia.
The Economy Mills thrived until the 1890s when an
economic slump caught Sevill misjudging the markets. The
established inter-family relationship between the
Schofields and the Dobsons allowed James Dobson to
consolidate and operate the two Schofield mills, Economy
and Blantyre, as the Imperial Mills, with Dobson
Schofield as treasurer and buyer. By 1916, Dobson
Schofield had advanced to secretary-treasurer.
Imperial Mills weathered through the Depression in
Manayunk, but closed shortly after, ending almost a
century of Schofields spinning textiles in Manayunk and
leaving hundreds of workers without jobs. The property
was sold in parcels and occupied by a variety of
enterprises until fire destroyed the buildings on the
island in the 1970s. The remainder of the complex was
purchased by Apex and G. Whitfield Richardson, both
manufacturing cleaners and lubricants for the production
of and use of metal wire.
1 Scranton, p. 58.
2 Family ties were woven
then the Dobson brothers married two of Sevill's sisters.
Later, Sevill and his wife Catherine named one of their
sons Dobson Schofield.
3 Scranton, p. 58.
4 Goshow, p. 101.
5 Scranton, p. 60.
6 Goshow, p. 101.
7 Scranton, p. 62.
Sevill's wife, a Catherine Somerset, was the daughter of
William Somerset, who enjoyed a successful career as a
partner in the firm of A. Campbell and Company. This
relationship may have prompted Schofield’s purchase
of the Blantyre Mills. After the death of Archibald
Campbell in the 1880s, A. Campbell and Company began to
fail. Sevill provided a position for one of its
employees, his young brother-in-law, William Somerset,
who continued his textile career in the Schofield
enterprise.
8 Scranton, p. 66.
9 McElroy, 1866, p. 646.
Update May
2007 (by
Sara Jane Elk):
No change.
See also:
Hexamer General Survey #4 (1866),
"Schofield's Mill."
Hexamer General Survey #405 (?),
"Schofield's Mill, Sevill
Schofield."
Hexamer General Survey #1131-1132
(1877).
Hexamer General Survey #1809-1810 (1883),
"Economy Mills, Sevill Schofield, Son &
Co."