Skip to main content
Notice: The Library is open for research by appointment only, please visit our research services page for more information.

Company towns

 Subject
Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Scope Note: Communities in which all or the major portion of the property and businesses are owned by one industry.

Found in 13 Collections and/or Records:

Brandywine Valley oral history interviewees' photographs

 Collection
Accession: 2017-225
Abstract:

Hagley Museum staff conducted a series oral history interviews between 1954 and 1990, speaking primarily with individuals who had worked at the DuPont Company powder yards on Brandywine Creek during the yards’ final decades of operation or who had lived near the yards as spouses or children of DuPont Co. workers. Some of the individuals who were interviewed donated, lent for copying, or provided information on the photographs in this collection. The images primarily depict the worker communities which surrounded the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company powder yards on Brandywine Creek or the powder yards themselves.

Dates: circa 1859-1958; Majority of material found within 1890-1920

DuPont Company Brandywine powder yards and neighboring worker communities' photographs

 Collection
Accession: 2017-226
Abstract:

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). This collection of more than 1250 discrete photographs depicts the landscape and buildings at or near the company's explosives manufacturing plants along Brandywine Creek near Wilmington, Delaware. Approximately 900 images depict powder yard sites, including the DuPont Experimental Station, either during the mills' final decades of operation or prior to, during, and after excavation and restoration work on the site in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of the remaining images depict the worker communities which surrounded the powder yards.

Dates: 1820-1970; Majority of material found within 1890-1960

DuPont, Washington historic district nomination papers

 Collection
Accession: 2065
Abstract:

DuPont, Washington, was built by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company for the purpose of housing employees of its dynamite plant. The collection includes papers on the history of DuPont, specifically the nomination to the National Register, along with copies of newspaper clippings, maps, and reports related to the nomination.

Dates: 1906-1987

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. Old Hickory plant panoramic photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1969-159
Abstract:

The War Department of the United States Government contracted with the DuPont Company to build and run a smokeless powder plant called the Old Hickory plant on the Cumberland River near Nashville, Tennessee during World War I. These panoramic photographs show overall views of DuPont Company's Old Hickory smokeless powder plant, also views of exterior and interior details.

Dates: 1918

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. Haskell Works panoramic photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1969-141
Abstract:

In 1902, DuPont took control of Laflin & Rand, including the Haskell Works. Infallible and Ballistite powders were manufactured there. The works played an important role in smokeless powder production during World War I. The panoramic photographs depict views of the Du Pont Company's smokeless powder works in Haskell, New Jersey and the workers village nearby.

Dates: circa 1920

Franklin T. Matthias papers

 Collection
Accession: 2086
Abstract:

Colonel Franklin T. Matthias (1908-1993) was commanding officer and area engineer of the Hanford Engineer Works of the Manhattan Engineer District. These are Colonel Matthias's personal papers documenting his work on the Manhattan Project. They include original declassified documents from Hanford and a variety of newspaper clippings and magazine articles collected by Matthias between the time he left Hanford to his death, reflecting his continuing interest in the Manhattan Project and nuclear power.

Dates: 1942-1993

Franklin T. Matthias photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1994-245
Abstract:

Franklin “Frank” T. Matthias (1908-1933) served as commanding officer and area engineer of Hanford Engineer Works from 1943 to 1945. He oversaw production of plutonium at Hanford to create the world’s first nuclear weapon, the atomic bomb. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs taken during the construction of the nuclear facilities at Hanford and the village of Richland in Washington state. Researchers interested in World War II, the Manhattan Project, industrial chemistry, nuclear energy, and company towns would find this collection useful.

Dates: 1940-1968

Frederick W. Wood photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1975-330
Abstract:

Frederick William Wood (1857-1943) was an executive and engineer in the steel and shipbuilding industries. The Frederick W. Wood photographs document the career of Frederick W. Wood in the steel and shipbuilding industries, most notably his time working for Pennsylvania Steel Company at Steelton, Pennsylvania, Maryland Steel Company and Bethlehem Steel Company at Sparrows Point, Maryland, and the American International Shipbuilding Corporation at Hog Island Shipyard, located in Pennsylvania on the Delaware River. Researchers interested in the steel and iron industries, the shipbuilding industry, company towns, and the regional history of the greater Philadelphia and Baltimore areas would find this collection useful.

Dates: 1880-1949

Penn Virginia Corporation records

 Collection
Accession: 1764
Abstract:

Penn Virginia Corporation was an oil and gas company, incorporated as the Virginia Coal & Iron Company on January 6, 1882. It was one of many firms established by a group of interrelated entrepreneurs headed by John Leisenring (1819-1884), a Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, civil and mining engineer. The name changed to Penn Virigina Corporation in 1967. The records of Penn Virginia Corporation cover the development and operations of the Virginia Coal & Iron Company, a large southern Appalachian land company, with some information on its immediate neighbors and local support facilities.

Dates: 1864-1981

U.S. Route 1 plat, showing properties

 Collection
Accession: 1602
Abstract:

Route 1 is a major north-south U.S. highway extending from Florida to Maine. The plat depicts a small portion of Route 1 between Hamorton and the Anvil Inn, including P.S. du Pont's (1870-1952) Longwood Gardens.

Dates: circa 1930-1952

Wawaset Park photographs

 Collection
Accession: 1969-162
Abstract:

Wawaset Park was a planned residential community built by the DuPont Company around 1918 for its executives in Wilmington, Delaware. These panoramic photographs depict construction of homes and overall views of area, street scenes, and pictures of individual houses.

Dates: 1919

Wawaset Park records

 Collection
Accession: 2638
Abstract:

Wawaset Park was a planned community, commissioned by the DuPont Company for its company executives. The records describe the park, its residents, and history through corporate records, maps and deeds of the property, lists of corporate officers and residents, as well as histories of the park, the City of Wilmington, and the state of Delaware.

Dates: 1658-2011

Wyomissing Development Company records

 Collection
Accession: 1905
Abstract:

The Wyomissing Development Company was a housing development firm for the employees of a manufacturer of knitting machinery, the Textile Machine Works. Both companies were incorporated by Henry Janssen (1866-1948) and Ferdinand Thun (1866-1948). The collection contains two minute books which document the organization of the Wyomissing Development Company, the acquisition of land for the company town and other public facilities including stores, parks, playgrounds, schools, and hospitals.

Dates: 1913-1934