This #WorkerWednesday, we’re sharing this ca. 1915 photograph of workers with hickory logs at the Hoopes Brothers & Darlington, Inc. sawmill in Brooksville, Florida. While the hickory was harvested and milled in Florida, Hoopes Brothers & Darlington began in West Chester in 1867. The company manufactured wooden spokes for wheels. By the 1880s, it was one of the largest wooden wheel makers in the country. It remained in business long after other wheel factories had closed, manufacturing wooden wheels until 1972.
This photograph is part of the Hagley Library’s Hoopes Brothers & Darlington, Inc. photographs (Accession 1969.099). Other items in this collection include photographs of the Hoopes Brothers & Darlington plant in West Chester, the company’s exhibit at the 1876 International Exposition in Philadelphia and another trade show exhibit from around 1890, photographs of from an additional saw mill in Mississippi, various models of wooden wheels, letterheads, and advertising. To view more material from this collection online now, click here to visit its page in our Digital Archive.