HAWLEY, PA  — When the Bellemonte Silk Mill opened in Hawley, PA, in 1881, fifty girls, ages 8 to 17, were employed there. They spent their days twisting the raw material produced by the mill’s silkworms into thread. Powered by the Wallenpaupack’s natural fall, the mill turned that thread into silk cloth to the tune of one million yards per year.

The Hawley Silk Mill, a community center that occupies the same grand Victorian bluestone pile in which the girls toiled, provides this history on its website. The mill is in the National Register of Historic Places. So its selections for a special honor on the occasion of the commonwealth’s 250th birthday is more than fitting. 

Cassandra Coleman, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial (America250PA), came to the mill to make the announcement. She said the Hawley bell will be dedicated later in the fall in partnership with Settlers Hospitality.

“America250PA is so excited to be dedicating its second Semiquincentennial Bell at the Hawley Silk Mill this fall to highlight the remarkable work of the individuals — immigrants, primarily women — who helped forge this great nation during the Industrial Revolution right here in Pennsylvania,” Coleman said.

On hand for the announcement were Justin Genzlinger, CEO of Settlers Hospitality, who pitched the idea of bringing the bell to the Silk Mill; U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-8); Drew Popish, representing Gov. Josh Shapiro; PA State Senator Lisa Baker (R-20), PA State Rep. Joe Adams (R Wayne/Pike); and Wayne County Commissioner James Shook.

Martha Capwell Fox, historian of the National Canal Museum, said silk was first major manufacturing industry to employ women.
"The Third Wave of immigration brought many experienced silk workers from Austria-Hungary, Italy, and eastern Europe,” she wrote. “These new arrivals had ideas about wages, hours, and workers’ rights that challenged the industry’s established order.” So silk magnates looked to the coal-producing regions of Pennsylvania where “daughters, children, and unmarried female relatives of miners and railroaders had few opportunities for work.”

The bronze bell is a replica of the Liberty Bell, which was rung to celebrate the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and, from its home in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, continues to serve as an iconic symbol of liberty. Pennsylvania plans to cast more than a dozen replicas for locations across the state, according to the National Bell Festival. The state’s semiquincentennial is in 2026.

The bell coming to the Hawley Silk Mill will be the second one dedicated. The first was dedicated last year at the historic Dennis Farm in Susquehanna County, which was a station on the Underground Railroad.