Existing comment:
The Industrial Revolution:
"Wilmington is the natural outlet for the great iron industry of the Atlantic Coast."
-- William Lawton to the Wilmington Board of Trade, 1898
In 1837, the PW&B Railroad laid down its tracks beside the Christina. With land and water distribution connected, the riverfront -- anchored by Harlan & Hollingsworth upstream and Pusey & Jones downstream -- began to boom with industry: a block and pump maker; a planing mill; a sail maker; a sash and door manufacturer; and sellers of lime, plaster, cement, lumber, and coal. The heavy industry that employed so many in the late 1800s had its origins in the machine shops set up in the 1840s.
The J Morton Poole Machine Works evolved from general machine shop to specialization in machinery for grinding grain, and making paper, cloth, sheet rubber and linoleum. The company received an Award of Excellence from the 1878 Exposition in France.
Four hotels -- the National, the Steamboat & Railroad, the United States, and one at the railroad depot -- offered accommodations. And James L Cox ran an oyster saloon.
The great shipbuilders survived boom and bust cycles because they attracted expert machinists who could shift from building ships to whatever the market demanded. When shipbuilding declined, Harlan & Hollingsworth built railroad cars that were famous for their luxury and beauty. Pusey & Jones' paper-making machinery, which by the turn of the century could produce fine quality paper in 112-inch wide rolls, was acclaimed and sold all over the world.
Above: The Kent Building, topped by twin watertowers, has been a warehouse for most of its first 100 years and was renovated in 2000 for office space. The Blumenthal Company stored its inventory of skins and finished leather goods in the long low building in the foreground, now the Riverfront Market. Left of the Kent Building are the machine shops of the J Morton Poole Company, whose smokestack once towered above the Wilmington skyline.
Above: In 1794, Quaker brothers John and William Warner formed a partnership that prospered through many generations. By 1888, the company operated steamers to New York and Philadelphia from its wharves at Market Street. This view from about 1875 looks north up Market Street from the bridge and shows freight wagons lined up at Warner's offices on the riverfront. |