4951 Wakefield Street, Philadelphia PA 19144
© Harold E. Spaulding,
Workshop of the
World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
Boas Phillips' two-story
brick knitting mill was constructed in the rear of the
lot that also contained his residence. According to an
1880 description by Blodget, the building was powered by
a 10 h.p. steam engine, driving ten powered glove
knitters, and six powered broad frames (a flat, as
opposed to a circular, knitting machine). Blodget's
description also indicated that Phillips produced 600
dozen pairs of gloves and 50 dozen jackets per week.
Originally, Phillips' address was Wakefield and Mehl
Streets, even though Mehl was about 660 feet north of his
home. He was the third mill and dwelling builder below
Wister Street, preceded by Fergus Perry in 1871 and Isaac
Springthorpe in 1876. Phillips was listed in City
Directories as living at Hockins Street near Armat Street
in 1872 and 1873. As Wakefield Street developed, other
streets appeared that intersected it and by the 1890s,
enough housing appeared to make numbering necessary.
Phillips received 4951.
Phillips died in 1902. His eldest son, Boas, Jr. carried
on until c.1916. In 1917, Boas, Sr's. wife, Elizabeth
died, aged 80. About 1923, the house and land it stood
upon were sold to small masonry contractor, whose two
daughters occupied the house as of 1989. An easement and
the property to the rear (including the small plant),
were sold to C. Walker Jones, an electrical contractor,
who had also purchased the adjacent small plant and
dwelling—the Perseverance Mill of Thomas W.
Greaves. By 1955, North Peen Roofing and Heating Company
owned this combined property.
Of the four small mills that operated on Wakefield Street
south of Wister in the late nineteenth century,
three—Springthorpe's, Phillips', and Greaves,
remain; they now serve as warehouses and an electrical
contractor's shop. North of Wister, along Wakefield,
Bringhurst, and Ashmead Streets, as many as thirteen
small mills were once in operation at the same time. All
have vanished.
Update May
2007 (by
Linny Schenk & Michael Parrington):
The two-story brick building is derelict.