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All the United States Maryland Lonaconing Klotz Throwing Company

Klotz Throwing Company

A remarkable time capsule of American manufacturing deep in Maryland coal country.

Lonaconing, Maryland

Added By
Sarah Krasley
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One of the many floors of spinning machines   sarahkrasley / Atlas Obscura User
A calendar from the last month the factory was in business   sarahkrasley / Atlas Obscura User
The elevator   sarahkrasley / Atlas Obscura User
Herb Crawford   sarahkrasley / Atlas Obscura User
Steamers   erkiletian / Atlas Obscura User
Klotz Throwing Company   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
The Basement   erkiletian / Atlas Obscura User
A Spider In A Bottle   erkiletian / Atlas Obscura User
Klotz Throwing Company   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Klotz Throwing Company   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
Ledger   erkiletian / Atlas Obscura User
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About

The Klotz Throwing Company, nestled in the mountains of western Maryland, was a silk mill that once employed about 300 workers full-time before shuttering in 1957. Miraculously, the factory remains eerily untouched: Worker cubbies still hold shoes, combs, tins of Noxema, and empty jars of apple butter from lunch breaks gone by.

Like much of the Appalachian region's heavy industry, the silk mill business in Maryland has seen better days. The Klotz Throwing Company was once a major employer for the tiny town of Lonaconing, but one day in 1957 it closed its doors, since production had become cheaper overseas.

Under the ownership of Herb Crawford, who tended to the building for 40 years, the mill cheated death. Crawford was swindled into buying it, but held no grudges. He kept it open for photographers and visitors, but as the building crumbled, this became increasingly difficult.

If permitted, embarking on a self-guided tour will take awhile to wander through three floors and then some. For many, it is absolutely worth the trouble. Transistor radios sit at attention on top of rows and rows and rows of spindles that used to take the silk that came in from Japan and turn it into thread for apparel production. Everywhere one looks, there is a tiny piece of history. Very few places on Earth remain so utterly frozen for 60 years.

Update May 2019: Herb passed away in February 2019. It's uncertain if his children will keep letting photographers in to photograph it.

Related Tags

Abandoned Factories Industrial History Coal

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sarahkrasley

Edited By

Edward Denny, rebelx, erkiletian, blimpcaptain

  • Edward Denny
  • rebelx
  • erkiletian
  • blimpcaptain

Published

July 14, 2017

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Klotz Throwing Company
71-75 E Railroad St
Lonaconing, Maryland
United States
39.567684, -78.977788
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