Northampton’s Century of Silk

The clues lie all alround us: a street named Corticelli, gnarled old mulberry trees, an office building called “The Silk Mill,” small spools of lustrous thread at tag sales, a landmark restaurant renamed “Silk City.” From the 1830s to the 1930s, Northampton was a vital node in silk’s world-wide web. Under Marjorie Senechal’s direction, the Northampton Silk Project spent six years excavating the fascinating story she pieces together in Northampton’s Century of Silk. Highlights include the mulberry craze of 1839, the invention of the first silk threat for the sewing machine, silk as the city’s largest employer, a lively, electic sign on New York’s Great White Way, silk stockings’ rise in tandem with hemlines, and the industry’s demise in the Great Depression. “From the start to the end we got the thread made,” a long-time silk worker reflected. “A lot of water went over the dam.”