R & H Simon Silk Mill

R and H Simon Silk Mill. Karl Stirner Arts Trail. , Brothers Robert and Herman Simon, owners of the R&H Simon Silk Company, built several initial mill buildings just across the Bushkill Creek from this location in 1883. The creek provided them easy access to the water needed for production. These initial facilities consisted of a main mill building, boiler-engine house and office of brick design following the same late 19th Century Industrial Romanesque style of their earlier Union HIll, New Jersey facility. The Easton facility had an initial workforce of 250. Several expansions occurred throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s. Employment rocketed to 1,060 by 1899 and production increased accordingly. All of the new buildings and additions, up to and including this period, follow the late 19th Century Industrial Romanesque style leading to significant stylistic unity within the complex. The power and engine facilities grew in size to become one of the most modern in the area, rated at 2,000 horse power. Mill employment grew to over 1,200 workers, with roughly 1,500 pieces of various machinery., Robert Simon ied in 1901 leaving his brother Herman to continue the business. After some additional enhancements and additions, the R&H Simon Easton and Union Hill plants were heralded by "Commercial and Financial World" (New York, March 1, 1913) as ranking "among the model establishments of the world, whether as regards construction, equipment or administration". The complex remains architecturally important as a unified collection of late 19th and 20th century industrial buildings and as a model business establishment in the growth and decline of the American silk industry.