The Cheney Bros. Company in Manchester, Connecticut, was the largest manufacturer of silk during the 2nd industrial revolution from 1860-1890. The mills still standing were built between 1872-1917. Attempts to grow mulberry trees to nurture silkworms failed, so silk cocoons were imported from the Orient. In the 1920s, the worker head count was at 4,670. Operations ceased in 1984 with the closing of the velvet mill. The Cheney Brothers National Historic Landmark District was established in 1978. The extensive Mill campus has been entirely transformed into a very successful adaptive rehabilitation program in the form of apartments. Work began by a visionary developer in the 1970s. The end result is little short of breathtaking and reminds one immediately of a similar program in Manchester, New Hampshire. There, the celebrated inventor of the Segway Scooter, Dean Kamen, has invested millions in the restoration of the Amoskeag Millyard, including the Pandora Mill clock tower.
Cheney Hall was originally built in 1867 as a meeting facility for the Company, but now hosts theater (http://www.cheneyhall.org/). It is a French 2nd Empire design.
Perhaps one of the most interesting outbuildings is the 3-story Silk Vault (unrestored) opposite the Weaver Mill. Note the massive vault doors, built to prevent theft as had occurred in 1919. A gang of silk thieves from New Jersey had perpetrated a plot for a silk heist and murdered the security supervisor. In 1999, the Manchester Historical Society (www.manchesterhistory.org) acquired the Machine Shop on Pine St.
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