"Beatty's Mills, Wm. Beatty, Owner." (1878), Hexamer #1284.
William Beatty's Mills, c.1886
Letterly, Hagert, and Coral Streets, Philadelphia PA 19125
© Carmen A. Weber, Irving
Kosmin, and Muriel Kirkpatrick, Workshop of the World (Oliver
Evans Press, 1990).
William Beatty's Mills began
in the 1850s as many textile concerns started in
Kensington, in a collection of buildings, some occupied
by Beatty, and some by various tenants. William Beatty
provided yarn for "outwork" on hand looms located in
homes around Kensington. Beatty produced ginghams,
diapers, and "miner's flannels," and as many as five
different tenants produced a variety of cotton and woolen
yarns and goods as well as hosiery goods.
1
By 1878, these
concerns employed 146 hands, mainly boys and
girls. 2
The mills
developed into one concern, the Beatty Mills, operated by
Robert Beatty in 1886. The new mills made only cotton
yarns; by 1902, the complex was known as the White Cotton
Mill. 3
In the
early twentieth century, the firm continued to employ
around 100 men and women. 4
A complex of buildings, constructed in 1886 to produce
cotton yarns, have survived relatively intact. The
structure facing Hagert Street is actually two
buildings. These five story brick buildings, with
their corbelled brick cornice, are echoed by two more
five story brick buildings on Letterly Street. The
engine room, boiler house, and office sit between these
larger buildings with the office facing Diamond Street.
In 1886, the northernmost portions of the larger
buildings contained cotton openers and spreaders. The
corner buildings held over forty revolving flap cotton
cards, eighteen self-acting spinning mules, eight roving
frames, four twiners, and two self-acting
twiners. The complex operated on a 300 horse power
steam engine, three boilers, and a Worthington duplex
pump, connected to the city main. 5
1 Edwin T.
Freedley, Philadelphia
and Its Manufactures, (Philadelphia, 1859), pp.
253, 257
2 Hexamer General Survey #1284 (1878)
"Beatty's Mills, Wm. Beatty,
Owner."
3 Ernest Hexamer and
Sons, Insurance Maps of the City of Philadelphia,
Volume 10, (Philadelphia, 1902).
4 Department of Labor
and Industry, Pennsylvania, 1916, p. 1191.
5 Hexamer General Survey #2031 (1886)
"Beatty's Mills, Estate of Wm. Beatty,
Owners."
Update
May 2007 (by Torben
Jenk):
The building on the northwest corner of Coral and Hagert
was converted into twenty-seven live/work spaces for
income-qualified artists at a cost of $7.5 million. The
building was added to the National Register of Historic
Places in 2004, and the renovations were done according
to Historic Preservation Guidelines established by the
Secretary of the Interior. Restoration work resulted in
the building receiving the Grand Jury Award from the
Preservation Alliance in 2006. There is a community room
and exhibition space on the first floor. Fire damaged
other buildings in this complex; they were demolished and
a new building was built for the Kensington Culinary Arts
High School.