Last updated on April 8, 2026
Revisiting the Lonaconing Silk Mill, a rare surviving industrial landmark in Maryland now facing a new chapter of preservation after decades of decline.
Earlier this year, I revisited the Lonaconing Silk Mill, an important industrial site and one of the last intact silk mills in the United States. Operated by the Klotz Throwing Company and later the General Textile Mills Company, the mill remained in use from 1901 until it closed in 1957.
In 1978, after a company expressed interest in reviving the property, Herbert Crawford and a business partner purchased the complex. Crawford hoped to transform the interior into a working museum, but those plans never advanced because of limited funding and a lack of state support. After his death in February 2019, the property fell into neglect and became increasingly vulnerable to vandalism.
In March 2022, Brandon Sloan acquired the Lonaconing mill from Crawford’s heirs. His immediate goal has been preservation rather than redevelopment, with particular emphasis on repairing the failing roof to prevent further deterioration.
The old candy bar is great!
Thanks for this. I was morally convinced that there was no silk produced in North America, principally because nobody would subject themselves to the tedium involved in the million cocoons required to make a yard of the stuff, Clearly I was wrong, and accept no substitutes, for nylon didn’t exist then. But France made lots of silk, and our working conditions had to have been better than those in Quebec.