West facade (2007).
Frogmore Mills, c.1848
1523 East Wingohocking Street, Philadelphia PA 19124 (north side between Castor Avenue and Adams Avenue)
© Barbara M. Auwarter and
Joyce Halley, Workshop of the World (Oliver
Evans Press, 1990).
Plate 24 of the Philadelphia
City Atlas of 1860 shows a cotton mill located between
Frankford Creek and Powder Mill Lane (now Wingohocking).
Hexamer Survey #242 indicates eighteen-year
old frame structures already on this site with new
stone and brick buildings. That complex, called
Frogmore Mills, was owned by the Garsed Brothers and
produced cotton goods with woolen warps and spun
cotton.
Hexamer General Survey #960 (1876),
"Frogmoor Mills, Randolph &
Jenks."
By 1876, 1
Randolph &
Jenks owned the Frogmore Mills which had been entirely
rebuilt in 1868 and manufactured cotton goods only. This
factory was operated by steam and water power from a mill
race from the fast-running Frankford Creek. The
waterwheel was a 52" Leffel which produced 70 horsepower,
only 10 horsepower less than the steam
engine.
Walker & Richman owned the Frogmore Mills, listed as
a cotton yarn factory in 1889. 2
In 1906,
3
Rachel and J.
Randolph owned the Frogmore Mills, which has an entirely
different building conformation on the city atlas.
Reputedly, a fire in the late 1890s had resulted in the
construction of an entirely new mill.
Philadelphia Felt Company was operating in this building
in 1925 4
and continued to
do so until the early 1980s. The building is presently
occupied by the banqueting hall of Romano's Catering. The
interior retains the mill's steel roof trusses, wooden
ceiling sheathing and some original wooden floors.
1 Hexamer General Survey #960 (1876),
"Frogmoor Mills, Randolph &
Jenks."
2 Insurance Map of
Philadelphia, 1889; Hexamer Survey #284 (?), Wilson's Frankford
Woolen Mills."
3 Philadelphia City
Atlas, 1906, 23rd Ward, Plate 25
4 Philadelphia City
Atlas, 1925, 23rd Ward, Plate 26
Southwest corner,
Wingohocking Street(2007).
Update
May 2007 (by Torben
Jenk):
Still occupied by Romanos Catering. No original windows
survive. Modern brown aluminum replacements are on the
south facade. Many window openings have been sealed on
the east and west facades, on both the brick and the
stone sections.
See
also:
Hexamer Survey #2591 (1892), "Frogmoor
Mills, Walker & Richman."