In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

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Clockwise, starting from above:
John Bromley (1800-1883), a Quaker
weaver who emigrated from England in
1840, became patriarch of a Philadelphia
family textile dynasty that lasted almost
150 years.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
BROMLEY CARPET & LACE
John Bromley was born in England in
1800 into a Quaker family of weavers. He
immigrated to Philadelphia in 1840 and
after a failed spinning mill venture began
hand weaving ingrain carpets on a single loom
in 1845. Thus began a family textile empire
that would grow to encompass a number of
factories and businesses, based mostly in
Kensington, that made carpet, curtains, and
lace for almost 150 years. John Bromley built
his first carpet mill at Front, Jasper, and York
Streets in 1860. This was followed in 1868
by a carpet mill built across the street by
his three eldest sons, who (in an amiable
arrangement with their father) had formed
their own company, Bromley Brothers. Then,
in 1887 John Bromley & Sons (a separate
business from Bromley Brothers) built a massive
mill on Lehigh Avenue, just west of
Kensington Avenue, for making curtains, lace,
and carpet. In describing this building, The
City of Philadelphia as it Appears in the Year
1894 noted that “Few industrial processes
among the thousands of factories in this busy
city afford the favored visitor…so much to
admire as those incident to the making of
[Bromley’s] artistic chenille and lace curtains.”
The Bromley carpet and lace factories were
Views of John Bromley & Sons’ two carpet
mills in Kensington.
The original 1860 mill at Front and
York Streets as it appeared c. 1875.
SOCIETY PRINT COLLECTION, HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OF PENNSYLVANIA.
The huge 1887 mill on Lehigh Avenue near
Kensington Avenue as it appeared in 1979.
PHILADELPHIA EVENING BULLETIN COLLECTION,
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
RESEARCH CENTER.
IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBERTY
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