Eddystone Manufacturing Company.

The Eddystone Manufacturing Company, Ltd., was formed under the limited partnership laws of Pennsylvania in 1877. It was reincorporated as the Eddystone Manufacturing Company, Inc., in 1895. The firm operated a cotton prints factory at Eddystone, Pa. It became the Print Works Division of Joseph Bancroft Sons & Company in 1929. The corporate organization was maintained as a shell company until 1959.

The company grew out of a textile mill built at the Falls of Schuylkill near Philadelphia in 1836 by William Simpson and John Halliday. The firm continued with several changes in partners, and by 1869 it was known as William Simpson & Sons. The Eddystone factory was built by Simpson as a collateral enterprise for the manufacture of their line of cotton prints. Eddystone offered plenty of open space for a large, steam-powered factory, in contrast to the constricted water power site at the Falls. The firm of William Simpson & Sons was dissolved in 1892, and Eddystone became the main operation.

The company expanded its product line to offer wide goods, percales and draperies in 1896; custom printing in 1909; wash goods in 1915; and plissé and printed warps in 1922. The firm introduced its "Fast Color" line of dyed and printed cottons in 1924 and its "Everglaze" permanent glazed finish in 1937. Rayon processing began in 1929.

From the description of Records, 1877-1959. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122547462