The Marshalls and National Vulcanized Fibre

National Fibre & Insulation Mills, c.1912

I'll begin this post with a bit of a confession -- While we all know that there have been lots of mills and factories that have operated in MCH over the past few hundred years, there are only a few that stayed around long enough that there are people in the workforce today who were employed by them (Haveg/Ametek in Marshallton and Curtis Paper, for examples). One of the big sites, though, had had me so confused and intimidated that I avoided digging into it for the first decade of doing this blog (yes, I've been around that long). That site is the National Vulcanized Fibre Company in Yorklyn, and my hope is that if you're as confused by it now as I was, by the end of this post you'll have a pretty good idea of what was there, where it was, who built it, and what they did there.

The story really starts in England in 1856 with inventor Thomas Taylor and the creation of a new material – vulcanized fibre. Originally know as "indurated paper" and considered to be one of the first plastics, it had the misfortune of coming about at the same time as another material, celluloid. Celluloid was seen as the more useful of the two, and Taylor's creation was largely ignored in his native England. Eventually he made his way to the United States, and in 1871 patented his invention here. With its strength, flexibility, and thinness, vulcanized fibre soon caught on. And with its machinability, resistance to solvents and oils, and ability to be made in colors, many uses were soon fund for the material.

Through the 1870's and 1880's Wilmington became a hub for the manufacture of vulcanized fibre, and it's with this that we get our first connection to the Marshall family. If you'd like a full refresher (or lesson) on the Marshalls, I strongly suggest checking out Robert Wilhelm's two earlier posts about them. (To be found here and here.) And incidentally, much of the information for this post came from his excellently-researched Marshall Timeline, found on the Friends of Auburn Heights website. For our purposes, know that in 1856 Robert Marshall's youngest son, Thomas S. Marshall, was allowed to convert the family's grist mill at Marshall's Bridge (on the Red Clay just north of Yorklyn) into a paper mill.

In 1865, Marshall's Homestead Mill burned, but it was quickly rebuilt even larger. Thomas' two sons, Israel Way (b.1850) and Thomas Elwood (b. 1855), later join him in the the business and the Thomas S. Marshall Company would be renamed Thomas S. Marshall and Sons. The one key fact for us is that while most other Delaware paper manufacturers moved exclusively to cheaper wood pulp papers, the Marshalls continued to make cotton rag paper. This is important because vulcanized fibre manufacturing requires cotton rag paper, and the Marshalls began to supply it to several of the Wilmington-area firms.

Marshall & Mitchell's Wooddale Mill, c.1895

Of the two brothers, T. Elwood is the more business-oriented, while Israel was drawn to the technical aspects manufacturing. After their father Thomas died in 1887 the brothers were looking for ways to expand their business. Their first acquisition was the Wooddale Mill, and the Marshalls, along with brother-in-law Dr. Taylor Mitchell, converted the former iron rolling mill into a paper mill. They began with wood pulp paper there, but later would produce rag paper for their other endeavors. Wooddale would operate for them until it burned in 1918. 

It was the Marshalls' next purchase, done about the same time as Wooddale, that would move our story forward. In 1890, they inquired about leasing the Auburn Factory on Red Clay Creek in Yorklyn. Originally built by the Garrett family as a grist mill and later used as a paper mill, it had most recently been operated as a textile mill by William Clark. It had burned in 1878 and was never rebuilt. On July 15, 1890, Elwood and Israel, along with Franklin Ewart, agreed to buy the Auburn Factory. They completed the sale the next year, and Marshall Brothers and Ewart began production of rag paper, primarily sold to local vulcanized fibre companies.

Marshall Brothers (Auburn) Mill, c.1895

The Marshalls bought out Franklin Ewart in 1892, and by 1895 they paid off their mortgage and owned the Auburn Factory, now also known as the Marshall Brothers Mill, outright. Israel Marshall, who had originally moved his family into the old Garrett house across from the mill, constructed a new home in 1897 -- Auburn Heights. The following year the brothers began their next venture, the Fibre Specialty Company.

The Fibre Specialty Company was located in Kennett Square, where it manufactured luggage and specialty cases from vulcanized fibre. So now the Marshalls were making the paper for vulcanized fibre and making products from it. Obviously, the next logical step was to cut out the middleman and begin producing vulcanized fibre themselves. This is exactly what they did, with the construction of a new mill directly across the road from the Marshall Brothers (Auburn) Mill. Completed in 1900 and soon to be known as the Insulite Mill (Insulite was a trademark granted to the Marshalls in 1901 for their insulating fibre), it was the brothers' first foray into fibre production.

Marshall Mills, c.1901. The Marshall Brothers Mills (Including the Auburn Factory) can
be seen in the foreground, with the Insulite Mill (long white building) behind it.
Auburn Heights Mansion rises above in the background

The next advance came as the result of what must have seemed like a disaster at the time. In 1902, the Fibre Specialty Company building in Kennett Square was destroyed in a fire. Since they no longer had to supply fibre there, Elwood and Israel decided to try to make the fibre production process more streamlined and cost efficient. What they came up with was the Endless Fibre Machine, first installed in the Insulite Mill. Now they had a way to make a huge impact in the fibre industry -- they just needed a larger facility, and a place to put it.

This was realized in late 1904 with the creation of the National Fibre & Insulation Company. Now, in terms of understanding the layout of the area, the thing to remember is that up to this point all of the Marshalls' Yorklyn facilities were along Benge Road, just below the Auburn Heights mansion -- the Marshall Mill on the east side (and still there) and the Insulite Mill on the west (site now a parking lot). This changed in 1905 when Elwood and Israel purchased the 122 acre Thomas Ferree property to the east. Not only was this new site adjacent to their existing land, it also happened to be conveniently located along the B&O (Wilmington & Western) railroad tracks. In fact, the railroad's Yorklyn Station was on the property.

National Fibre & Insulation Company's #1 Fibre Mill, c.1906

In 1906 they completed construction on the #1 Fibre Mill, across from the Yorklyn Station on the Ferree property. There was a slight delay when the mill was damaged by a severe storm when it was almost complete, but it was soon up and running. Among other things, it supplied fibre for the Fibre Specialty Company, whose Kennett Square facility had been rebuild the year before. The National Fibre & Insulation Company's facilities continued to grow, with the additions of a paper mill in 1911 and a second fibre mill in 1912.

There would be a handful of changes to both the Marshall family and to their companies over the ensuing decade. First, Israel Way Marshall passed away after a short illness in June 1911.Both of his sons, J. Warren and T. Clarence, would become even more involved in the family business. The Keystone Fibre Company of Chester was purchased, and their operations moved to Yorklyn. The Yorklyn mills were expanded again in 1918, partially to make up for the Wooddale Mill, which was destroyed in a fire in September 1918.

National Vulcanized Fibre Company, c.1927. The double-roofed building to the right is
the #2 Mill, built in 1912. The #1 Mill is behind it. This is the building destroyed in a fire
 in April 2021. The B&O's Yorklyn Station (now the Wilmington & Western's
 Greenbank Station) can be seen in the center.

The biggest change, though, took place in 1922, with the formation of a new company -- National Vulcanized Fibre. It was formed though a consolidation of the Marshalls' National Fibre & Insulation with the American Vulcanized Fibre Company, itself having been formed through multiple mergers over the previous several decades. The new company would continue to grow and was the largest producer of fibre in the world, supplying about 70% of the world's supply of vulcanized fibre. Over the ensuing years a number of other companies, both on the fibre production and product manufacturing sides, were acquired and folded into National Vulcanized Fibre.

The company made significant contributions to the war effort during World War II, developing a drop tank for bombers, providing special fibre for ration tokens, and providing material to be punched into utensils for ration kits. In 1946 it began trading as a public company on the New York Stock Exchange. The Marshall family remained involved with the business up until the death of J. Warren Marshall in 1953. He had served as the only president of  National Fibre & Insulation and then of National Vulcanized Fibre. The when the former purchased Marshall Brothers Company, the family was officially out of the paper and fibre businesses.

NVF's Yorklyn site, c.1967

In 1967, to better reflect the variety of their products, the company officially shortened its name to NVF. However, the market and the world were changing, and many of the uses formerly served by fibre were now being made from cheaper plastics. NVF filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in 1993, but the final blows would come from Mother Nature, not from the marketplace. In September 1999, flooding from Hurricane Floyd severely damaged NVF's facilities. Then, four years later almost to the day, Tropical Storm Henri unleashed devastating flooding throughout the Red Clay Valley. As it did to Ametek downstream in Marshallton, this flooding marked the end of the line for NVF in Yorklyn. The company officially filed for bankruptcy a few years later, but this would only lead to the next chapter for the Marshalls' properties.

The Auburn Heights area today

In 2008, Thomas C. Marshall, Jr. donated his home (the mansion built by his grandfather Israel) to the State of Delaware to help form the Auburn Heights Preserve, which in 2018 became Auburn Valley State Park. With the non-profit Friends of Auburn Heights Preserve operating the Marshall Steam Museum and the state overseeing the Marshall Mansion, the park also includes hiking trails both on the former NVF site as well as the adjacent Oversee Farm area. The land that once provided vulcanized fibre for the world and jobs for countless Yorklyn and Hockessin residents now provides recreation and history for them, their descendants, and anyone else who wants to enjoy it.