Whitlock Cordage plant
Source: Jersey City of To-day (1910) by Walter G. Muirhead
Whitlock Cordage
Photo Copyright 2002 Leon Yost
Whitlock Cordage (above) Example of the kind of rope manufacted by Whitlock Cordage.
Source: Jersey City of To-day (1910) by Walter G. Muirhead
The Whitlock Cordage Company was among Jersey City's nationally recognized industrial businesses during the early twentieth century. It manufactured what many consider the world’s finest and strongest rope. After closing in 1961, the complex became part of the Morris Canal Redevelopment Area in the historic district of Lafayette, surrounded by cobblestone courtyards and the Rev. Dr. Ercel F. Webb Park.
By 2018, the seven-acre site was re-purposed as Whitlock Mills for residential housing with 330 mixed-income rental apartments in five original buildings and 29 new properties.
Whitlock Cordage was founded by Benjamin Whitlock in Elizabethport, NJ, in 1815, for manila rope for the maritime industry and cables for drilling oil, gas, and water wells. It was initially called the New Jersey Flax and Hemp Spinning Company.
In 1891, a fire destroyed the factory forcing the company to search for a new site. After a brief stay in Brooklyn, it moved to Jersey City in 1905 for its "superior transportation facilities and exceptional location" (Muirhead). Whitlock Cordage chose the abandoned New Jersey (Passaic) Zinc Company at Communipaw Avenue and the Morris Canal, convenient for the delivery of zinc and other goods between Pennsylvania and the Jersey City waterfront. In 1910, according to Walter G. Muirhead, "The old buildings were removed, and on the ten-acre tract they erected a new and modern plant which is run entirely by electricity, the company owning a complete generating system."
By 1930, the industrial complex included eight buildings and two brick smokestacks. The factory building design displayed a pitched roof, clerestory, and high Romanesque windows.
"Big Jersey Zinc Plant Sold." New York Times 9 June 1904.
Martin, Antoinette. "A Significant Industrial Site Is Saved for Housing." New York Times 11 May 2003.
McDonald, Terrence T. "Affordable Housing Planned for Site of Former Rope Factory." Jersey Journal 16 August 2017.
Muirhead, Walter G. Jersey City of To-Day: Hudson County, New Jersey; America, Its History, People, Trades, Commerce, Institutions & Industries. Jersey City, NJ: Jersey City Printing Co., 1910.
