For more than a century, the Scranton Lace Company wove itself into the fabric of a nation.
The behemoth manufacturing facility in Green Ridge was America’s largest producer of Nottingham lace, a type of intricate, machine-made flat lace that originated in Nottingham, England, during the Industrial Revolution.
It was the prime example of the area’s once-flourishing textile industry that sprang up in the late 19th century. At its peak, the sprawling lace complex employed 1,400 workers who enjoyed on-site amenities like a gym, barbershop, theater, bowling lanes and infirmary.
The national ripple
It began in 1891 as the Scranton Lace Curtain Manufacturing Company, a structure covering 6 acres, according to “Time and Lace, A History Of The Scranton Lace Company,” a 2022 book by Roman Golebiowski and Darlene Miller-Lanning of the Hope Horn Gallery of the University of Scranton.
A one-of-a-kind, intricate European-built loom that stood two stories tall and stretched about 50 feet turned 4,000 individual threads into lace. Working sort of like a player piano, large metal plates with holes were pushed into the loom to control the pattern produced.
The Lace site bounded by Meylert and Albright avenues near the Lackawanna River grew over time to 11 acres with infill construction and additions. Over years, the factory pivoted away from lace to manufacturing other textiles, including tablecloths, napkins, valances and shower curtains.
When America entered World War II, Scranton Lace joined the effort, producing mosquito and camouflage netting, bomb parachutes, tarpaulins and targets. After the war, the company returned to making cotton yarn, vinyl shower curtains and textile laminates used for umbrellas, patio furniture and pool liners.
But with the advent of new synthetic fabrics and the flood of modernity, lace ceased to be a coveted commodity. In its last days, Scranton Lace still made tablecloths, window drapes and bedding. The future of the site — an expanse of 34 buildings, many interconnected, and a million square feet of space that was caving in, burned out and crumbling — remained in question.
Living legacy
The complex has since undergone a renaissance through redevelopment into a mixed-use residential and commercial complex called Lace Village.
Reinvention would come but it took two decades. In 2006, Lace Building Affiliates LP bought the vacant Scranton Lace site. In 2012, it achieved the prestigious listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Since then, and most outwardly noticeably in recent years, the formerly blighted site has been transformed into a mixed-use residential and commercial complex called Lace Village. The redevelopment peeled back the years through forensic demolition of portions too far gone to be spared and the saving of core structures for renovation. Over a million of the original bricks from the buildings were saved and reclaimed and over a million board feet of heart pine wood also were reused to restore many structures.
The project also involved new construction of townhouses within the footprint of the complex. Residents started occupying completed dwellings in 2024 as work on other sections continued.
The complex’s iconic 125-foot-tall clock tower, which opened in 1928, also remains as a symbol of the manufacturing that once occurred there.
Sidelight
During a ceremonial clock tower lighting on Dec. 29, 2023, Mary Belin Rhodes of North Abington Twp. — whose great-grandfather, grandfather and father collectively spent decades working at Scranton Lace — flipped the switch to light the clock tower and said, “Lace Village, especially the clock tower, is a phoenix rising from the neglected site of the former Scranton Lace Company.”
Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here on April 15, 2026, has renovated buildings on the right in background and newly constructed residences on the left. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, and its iconic landmark clock tower, on April 15, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
A poster of plans to tranform the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton into Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment, shown here on July 31, 2020. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, and its iconic landmark clock tower, on April 15, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, and its iconic landmark clock tower, on April 15, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Part of Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here under renovation on April 19, 2023. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Part of Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here under renovation on July 31, 2020. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Part of Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here under renovation on July 31, 2020. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
An entrance to Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here on June 1, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
A facet of Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here on July 31, 2020. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
A view of townhouses at Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here on June 17, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here under renovation on April 19, 2023. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Part of Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here under renovation on April 19, 2023. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Part of Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here under renovation on July 31, 2020. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Part of Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here under renovation on July 31, 2020. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Part of Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here under renovation on April 19, 2023. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
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Lace Village, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Scranton Lace factory complex in Scranton, shown here on April 15, 2026, has renovated buildings on the right in background and newly constructed residences on the left. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
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About the series
No. 13: As the nation approaches America250, we are counting down ways NEPA has powered American history.