The silk industry in Pennsylvania peaked in the late 1920s due to cheap labor, mainly from immigrant workers' children and wives.

During the late 1800s silk was becoming popular with the growing middle class who wished to emulate the wealthy tycoons of the day.

The spinning machines in the mills required constant tending, and provided jobs that suited the women and children of that era.

Because of this they had a tendency to be located near mines and other heavy industries that would attract men to work, who would bring their wives and children to possibly seek employment.

[7] One of the most important men of the American Silk industry, Desiderius George Dery, also made his home in the valley.

[2] The demise of the silk industry in the Lehigh Valley can be traced to the Great Depression, Southern competition and new synthetics.

Low wage labor, which had originally brought the silk industry to the Lehigh Valley, was what led to its departure from the region.

Throughout the late 1800s, child labor was common throughout Pennsylvania silk mills as many families depended on additional income for subsistence.

This large wage gap made child labor attractive to mill owners, and quickly drew manufacturers to the Lehigh Valley area.

By 1907, children comprised roughly 30% of the labor force throughout the Pennsylvania silk mills, many under the legal working age of 12.

[8] Although child labor persisted throughout the early 1900s, a progressive reform to keep children in school and out of the silk mills was quietly brewing.

Throughout the Progressive Era, journalists, settlement house workers and a philanthropic organization called the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) studied, documented, and publicized the dangers of the work place for growing children.

Lack of enforcement by state factory inspectors made it difficult to ensure that silk mill manufacturers were abiding by the terms of the progressive reform and many laboring families still depended on their children's wages.

This progressive reform in setting a minimum legal working age led to the shift from children in the workforce to female employment.

In the early 1900s the silk mills employed a large population of girls under the age of 18 who worked to financially support their families during this time of economic distress.

[8] As the 1900s began to take shape, starting around the 1920s, the age of women changed drastically as new progressive laws pushed young females out of the industry.

[8] In addition, young children were able to maintain more years of schooling, ultimately increasing their human capital for future endeavors.

The R&H Simon Silk Mill was originally built in 1883 along Bushkill Creek on North 13th street in Easton, Pennsylvania.

In addition, a piece of industrial machinery will be removed from inside one of the mills and left in a prominent outdoor location.

The project's success is crucial to the city's economic future and is intended to be a space for resident artists to form a community.

Due to the building's industrial history as a silk mill, soil and groundwater was contaminated with metals and organic compounds.

The now rental complex has 35 units with restored maple flooring and spaces divided by dry wall and duplexes created with beams and lofts.

There were plans in 2013 to convert the two buildings into 150 apartments and commercial space under the declaration of a Keystone Opportunity Zone, which would exempt the property from real estate taxes for the first ten years.

The mill was completely redeveloped in the early 1990s into multiple use spaces some of which include: apartments, municipal offices and police headquarters.

[11] The folk/country song Silken Dreams[12] performed by Anne Hills and Michael Smith is a worker's lament about the gradual closure of the silk mills in Allentown.