Industries Of Danville, Christmas 1928

Mill Street, Looking North Danville, Pa. c.1926 (Note the Light Stands made by Art Bronze & Iron Works)

"Christmas finds the industries of Danville foremost in the distribution of Christmas Cheer".  Read about the industries in Danville Pa in December of 1928.  Danville Iron and Steel, Gunter Silk Mill, and the Art Brone & Iron Company. The Art Brone & Iron Company was the local pioneer of company provided life insurance, paying the premiums for $1,000 of life insurance as a Christmas gift to their employees.

Structural Steel

Structural Steel began as the  Rough & Ready Mill, owned by William Hancock and John Foley.  before,  The US Navy took over the site for the War Effort After the war, the plant was owned and operated by TRW.

Read more about the history of this location here - https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/12/from-rough-ready-to-trw-history-of.html

At the Corners Of East Market and Railroad Streets

An early photo of the rough and ready mill started by William  Hancock and John Foley.

Danville Iron & Steel Co.

Railroad Street to Beaver Street

Danville Iron and Steel merged with Structural Steel, read more about this locations history here:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/12/from-rough-ready-to-trw-history-of.html

Gunter Silk Mill

 Gunter silk mill was located at 336  Church Street between the Old North Branch Canal & Sechlers Run.  (Where Giant sits today) In 1907 it was known as the Danville Knitting Mill. By 1913, it was the Nam-Tran Knitting & Spinning Co. Danville Knitting Mill.  Also referred to as the Rosalyn Yarn Works.

It was closed for 6 months in 1934, with 34 employees returning in Octobers and "expected that 100 will be employed within a few days" - Danville Morning News Oct 11 1934

 

Is this photo labeled "The Danville Milling Co." The Gunter mill?  I do not know.

A more modern photo of the building above that MAY have been the Gunter mill (but I am unsure!)

Art Brone & Iron Co.

Art Bronze & Iron Company
512-14 Walnute Street, Danville PA

The Danville Morning News, October 1949
Art Bronze & Iron works was established by A.H. Foulke, C.L.Foulke, VIctor A. Olson, and Mrs E.F.Gerringer.  The plant was established " for the manufacture of iron, bronze, aluminum, semi steel, gray iron, and bronze castings, as well as any article of wood."

The Sunbury Daily Item
August 1945

The company is most known for the light stands that once lined the streets in Danville.  Although it is often said that Danville sold these lights to Lewisburg, that does not appear to be the case.  Lewisburgs lights are shaped differently, and several who lived in Danville confess to now owning one of the lights themselves.

Olson also made a variety of Iron roses for his own enjoyment, and to give out to friends and family. The Danville Iron Rose - 

"Believing that there is a human as well as business relationship existing between employer and employee, the directors of the Art Bronze and Iron Works take pleasure in informing you they are presenting each employeed of th ecompany with a $1,000 life insurance policy... Trusting that this gift will bring to you and your family an expression of our best wished for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."

December 1923

A Legal notice announced the United States Marshalls Sale of Iron Foundry Plant and Equipment on March 13 1953, on the premises of the Art Bronze & Iron Works.

A history of the company was written by Arthur Toye Foulke.

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Danville Morning News

December 24 1948

More Industries Of Danville PA

The Water Street Silk Mill, Prior to 1904

430 East Water Street, Danville PA

"In 1896 Mr. F.Q. Hartman erected a silk mill on Water St. on the site of an old tannery. The building was brick and two stories high. There were 65 employees working with 6,000 spindles in the production of silk yarn from the raw material imported from Italy, China and Japan. By 1898, there were 300 employees at 26,000 spindles. The mill was named Mnemoloton Mills for ‘Blue Hill’ across the river. Mr. Hartman sold his business to Jouvard & Lavigne in 1914. After various owners the building was razed in 2011 to make way for condominiums." - The Montour County Historical Society

"The silk mill on Water Street was built by F .Q. Harman at 430 East Water Street in 1897, on the site of an old tannery. A 1904-1905 business directory of Danville simply lists the business, under Silk Manufacturers, as F. Q. Hartman. A 1907 map shows the Water Street site occupied by the F. Q. Hartman Inc. Memolitan Throwing Plant. Memolitan is a corruption of Mnemoloton, the pronunciation of the name given by the local Indians to Blue Hill in the early 1770s. Blue Hill, from where this image was taken, is immediately across the Susquehanna River from Hartman’s mill. Hartman sold his interest in the mill in 1914 to the Jouvaud & Lavigne Company. This is the same Lavigne that the Columbia Montour Boy Scout Council’s Camp near Benton is named after. A 1913 map lists the Mill under the same name as in 1907. This mill was later used by Cabinet Industries as a manufacturing facility. That’s what I last remember it as although I understand it may have more recently been repurposed."  - copied from a facebook post by John Malzich in You Know You Live In Danville Pa.

Home Of John Lavigne, c. 1918, Owner of the Danville Silk Mill

200 West Market Street in Danville

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From A Facebook Post By John Mazich

For 180 years or so, Danville has been a mill town with processed metals and metal products as its lifeblood. It seems that in general, when you ask someone in town to name a mill, almost everyone who has an answer thinks of the Reading Iron Company and its “Big Mill” on the current site of the Danville Middle School. However, in 1923, the same general time period as these two cards, at the end of the boom times for Danville, the following mills and manufactories were still in existence in town.

Iron & Steel Mills:
American Swedo Co.
Danville Iron & Steel Corp.
Danville Manufacturing Co. Galvanized Iron Specialties
Danville Stove & Manufacturing Co.
Danville Structural Tubing Co.
Pennsylvania Brake Beam Co.
Reading Iron Co.

Knitting Mills:
Danville Knitting Mills
Jouvaud & Lavigne Cotton Mill
Nam-Trah Knitting & Spinning Co.

Flour Mills:
Danville Milling & Baking Co.
Haney-Fraser Milling Co

Lumber Mills:
Danville Lumber Co & Saw Mill
South Danville Planing Mill

Some of these businesses had multiple locations in Danville and many had different names and owners through the years. So it makes sense that Danville’s main thoroughfare is Mill Street. A mill town indeed.

 Mill Street, Looking North Danville, Pa. c.1912

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For More Local History & Stories In Danville

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/08/danville-pennsylvania.html

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https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html