The Cheney Brothers Historic District was a center of the silk industry in Manchester, Connecticut, in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The 175-acre (71 ha) district includes over 275 mill buildings, workers houses, churches, schools and Cheney family mansions.

[4] The Cheney silk processing business began in the 1830s with the cultivation of mulberry trees, which silkworms fed on, and expanded in 1838 into a silk-spinning operation that was located near the family homestead.

The Cheneys focused their business efforts on the spinning in the 1840s, and had by the end of that decade mastered the difficult process of weaving silk.

In South Manchester, the Cheneys practiced what was termed welfare capitalism, intending to provide a comprehensive living and working environment for their workers.