The City Of Chester.

name changed to Yeadon Mills. In 1866, Denis, Anderson & Co. established a business in Conshohocken for the manufacture of fancy cassimeres, and in 1870, G. P. Denis removed to Chester, purchased these mills, and operated them. In 1880 additions were made to the buildings and machinery. At present the main building - stone and brick - is one hundred and thirty feet in width by two hundred feet in length. The mills contain thirty-eight broad Knowles & Crompton looms, two thousand two hundred and eighty spindles, four sets Engle sixty-inch cards, and other machinery, which is driven by a one hundred and twenty horse-power Corliss engine. About one hundred and twenty hands are employed, twenty-six thousand pounds of raw material are used weekly in the manufacture of three thousand two hundred and fifty yards of fancy cassimeres.

Lilley & Son's Manufacturing Company. - On the 1st of August, 1873, John Lilley & Son established the business of manufacturing cotton and woolen cloth and cotton yarn. A mill was erected on Front Street, one hundred by fifty-four feet, and in the rear a building one hundred and twenty-two by forty feet; these buildings were connected by one eighty by thirty-six feet. The machinery consists of one hundred and eleven looms, three thousand two hundred and fifty-two spindles, twenty-five cards; one hundred persons are employed, twelve thousand pounds of raw material are used weekly, from which is produced twenty-five thousand yards of cloth. On the 3d of January, 1880, the company was incorporated under the name of Lilley Manufacturing Company. John Lilley, Jr., is superintendent.

Chester City Mills. - These mills were established in 1877 by Branagan & Lamb, who erected a building forty by forty feet, with the necessary structures adjacent, at the corner of Front and Parker Streets, for the purpose of manufacturing woolen yarns and woolen and cotton jeans. The mills were supplied with ninety looms, seventeen hundred spindles, five sets of cards, which are driven by a sixty horse-power engine. Four thousand pounds of raw material are used per week, from which is produced seventeen thousand yards of goods. Seventy hands are employed, forty of whom are women.

S. A. Crozer & Son's Chester Mills. - In 1837, Jacob G. Kitts established the first foundry in Delaware County, on the lot where Crozer's new cotton-mill partly stands, on Edgmont Avenue, above the present post-office. In his advertisement in the Delaware County Republican, Sept. 29, 1837, he states, -

"The subscriber, having established an iron-foundry at Chester, is now ready and prepared to receive orders for iron castings of all kinds and descriptions, such as mill-gearing and machinery for flour- and paper-mills, horse-power for thrashing-machines, wheels for railroad cars, axles, etc. All of which will be made and fitted up to order."

In 1837, Kitts & Kerlin carried on the business, and erected the first stationary-engine and steam-boiler ever started in Chester, "and its advent produced," wrote John M. Broomall, "more sensation among the simple villagers than did the fall of the French monarchy." In 1840 the firm made the second engine and boiler used in Chester, for the tannery of William Brobson. In 1841 "brass- and bell-foundry" was added to the title of the works. In 1844, Kitts, who had resumed entire control of the "Chester Iron-Foundry and Machine-Shops," failed, and was succeeded the same year by Charles Cornog, Cadwallader Evans, and Ferdinand Cornog, which firm carried on an extensive business in 1845, building a twenty-five horse-power engine for David Trainer, and casting a pinion-wheel, weighing two thousand four hundred pounds, for William T. Crook's factory. In 1851 they built a boiler for Samuel Riddle's mill, forty feet in length, thirty-six inches diameter, and weighing eight thousand pounds. In those early days of Chester manufacturing establishments, this was regarded as remarkable work. In the year 1880, S. A. Crozer & Son erected near Chester Creek, north of the post-office, on Edgmont Avenue, a brick building, two stories in height, one hundred and forty by sixty feet, with picker-room twenty-four by sixty feet. Six thousand three hundred and thirty-six spindles and forty-eight sets of cards were placed in the mill. The power is supplied from a Corliss engine with three boilers. Work was commenced in June, 1881. Fifteen men, forty-five women and girls, and twenty boys are employed, whose monthly wages are nineteen hundred dollars. Fifty thousand pounds of cotton per month is used, from which is produced weekly twelve thousand pounds of warp-yarn. The mills are under the charge of William D. Howard.

Lincoln Manufacturing Company. - In 1881 a stock company was organized in Chester, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, for the purpose of manufacturing cotton yarns. Land was purchased on Morton Avenue, and a brick structure, seventy feet in width by one hundred and ninety feet in length, two stories high, was erected, and fitted with modern machinery. An engine- and boiler-house, fifty by sixty feet, was built, supplied with a two hundred horse-power engine. The machinery consists of six thousand eight hundred and forty spindles and thirty-four Foss-Pevey cards. Thirty-three bales of cotton are used weekly, from which twelve thousand pounds of yarn are produced. About sixty-five hands are employed.

The directors are S. Emlen Meigs, of Philadelphia, president; Chalmers Dale, of New York, A. Blakeley, Richard Wetherill, and W. S. Blakeley, of Chester, treasurer.

The Stotesbury Mill. - The building on the corner of Fourteenth Street and Edgmont Avenue was erected in 1874 by J. Lewis Crozer, and in that year the manufacture of cotton yarn was then established by James M. Stotesbury. The building is of stone,