McCollum and Post Silk Mill

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The McCollum and Post Silk Mill is an industrial building at 368 Madison Ave. in Nazareth Borough, Northampton County, built in 1913 in the Commercial Style; it was listed in 2005.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria A and C, with local significance in industry and architecture, its period of significance running from 1913 to 1936 as the mill operated for silk manufacturing.

Physical character

Exterior brick bearing walls rise from a concrete foundation to a gable roof with stepped parapets, its full-height brick pilasters framing industrial windows, while wood roof trusses, columns, and timber floor framing survive inside along with a hoist beam and terra cotta tiles. A one-story 1967 addition on the mill's east wall, its first-floor windows replaced by Kalwall panels, was demolished in 2001 for a three-story addition twenty feet east.

Historical context

The McCollum and Post Company operated the mill from 1913, at the peak of the silk boom, until it closed in 1931. Clements and Company ran it from 1931 to 1934, when the Edward Silk Company took over; the silk operation closed for good in 1936. It later housed Lehigh Frocks from 1965 to 1970 and Atlantic Apparel in the 1970s, before conversion to elderly apartments in 2001.