Industry type: Textile mill
Location: Rockland on the East bank of the Brandywine
Active dates: c. 1850-1854
Summary: After James Goodman rebuilt the burned Rockland weaving mill in the summer of 1850, Cyrus Hillborn of Philadelphia began to rent the 78-acre property spanning the Brandywine. In addition to the newly rebuilt weaving mill, the tract contained the stone cotton mill capable of holding 3,600 spindles, an old 54' x 44' 2.5-story grist mill, a barn with a stable, thirty tenements, and several auxiliary buildings.Hillborn went bankrupt in 1854 and his 4,000 spindles and 86 power looms, as well as other machinery, were sold at auction. In 1854, the mill was sold to Augustus E. Jessup and Henry du Pont, and the paper company Jessup & Moore began occupying the site.
Sources: Boatman, Roy. The Brandywine Cotton Industry, 1795-1865. Hagley Research Report, 1957.Hancock, Harold. Advertising Practices of Selected Wilmington and Brandywine Firms, 1800-1900. Hagley Research Report, 1962, 28.Hancock, Harold. The Industrial Worker Along the Brandywine. Hagley Research Report, 1956, 6.Haugan, Oyvind. The Rockland Paper Mills, 1795-1971. The Paper Industry Web.Scharf, John Thomas. History of Delaware 1609-1888, Vol. 2. Philadelphia: L. J. Richards & Co., 1888, 760-793. Zebley, Frank R. Along the Brandywine. Wilmington: William Cann, Inc., 1940.
Online images:"Rockland Mills, Wilmington, Del.," postcard, 1907, University of Delaware Digital Collections. "Rockland Paper Mills, on the Brandywine, Near Wilmington, Del.," postcard, 1910, University of Delaware Digital Collections."Rockland Paper Mills, on the Brandywine, Near Wilmington, Del.," postcard, 1913, University of Delaware Digital Collections.