Brief History
The Rockland Mills buildings and dam complex were once part of the community of Rockland, Delaware built over 200 years ago on the banks of the Brandywine River. The Brandywine supplied water power to Rockland Mill and a dozen others in the Wilmington Region.
The mill buildings have a rich history and now converted into housing that maintains as much of the original architecture as possible. The 1881 village store now operates as the Rockland Post Office.
In 1793, William Young, a prosperous bookseller and printer from Philadelphia, came to Rockland looking for property on which to build a paper mill. Here he found a dependable source of water to power the mill. Equally as important, the population of the village was large enough to supply the quantity of cotton rags that were essential to the paper-making process.
Young later developed a process for the manufacture of high quality paper that would not depend on rags. This process produced paper from a mixture of mulberry roots and green bark. Unfortunately, the process was not a success and rag paper continued to be the main product.
The mills leading customer was the U.S. treasury which bought paper for printing stamps.
In 1814, the entire paper mill burned. Young rebuilt and decided to switch to woolen manufacturing. He added the manufacture of cotton textiles in 1822. After his death in 1829, the Rockland Manufacturing Company was left to his sons. After years of losing money, they sold the mill at public auction in 1852.
In 1860, August Jessup and Bloomfield Moore bought the complex and Rockland once again became a prosperous paper mill town. The Jessup Moore Paper Company produced top quality paper used for books, magazines and lithographs. It closed in 1933, a victim of the Great Depression.
In 1940, the complex was purchased again. Tissue and napkins were the main products of the Doeskin Mill. The business thrived during the 1950's and early 1960's. After the mill closed in 1971, the buildings began a new life as homes and businesses.
