William H. Horstmann

Wm. Horstmann & Sons. Ribbon sample book. [Philadelphia, 1850-1872]. Courtesy of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

An expert silk weaver when he entered the country from Cassel, Germany in 1816, William H. Horstmann (1785-1850) was the first person in the United States to use a Jacquard loom to weave patterns into fabrics, and was also the first to introduce braiding machines. His business was so successful that it required a more spacious factory, and in 1852 he erected a five-story building on the northeast corner of 5th and Cherry Streets. Built in a residential neighborhood, it was described as “the first manufacturing structure of elegance” in the city, and one of the first to use ornamental brickwork.