Harlan and Hollingsworth

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Harlan & Hollingsworth was a Wilmington, Delaware firm that constructed ships and railroad cars during the 19th Century.

In 1836, Mahlon Betts and Samuel Pusey began manufacturing railcars at a plant on West and Water Streets in Wilmington. The next year, cabinetmaker Samuel Harlan joined the firm, then known as Betts, Pusey & Harlan. By 1839, the company claimed to have manufactured 39 passenger and 28 freight cars over the past two years. The next year, they hired Jacob F. Sharp, a former house carpenter, to build cars. He would rise to become foreman at the plant, and eventually co-founded the rival firm of Jackson and Sharp. Around this time, the company expanded its works towards the nearby Christiana River and entered the shipbuilding business.

In 1841, Samuel Hollingsworth, brother-in-law of Harlan, bought out Pusey, and the firm became known as Betts, Harlan & Hollingsworth. In the 1840s, the firm also built hand-pumped fire engines, and built the first iron ships in Wilmington. Before 1850, Betts withdrew from the firm, which became simply Harlan & Hollingsworth; J. Taylor Gause was admitted as a partner in 1858, and they became Harlan, Hollingsworth & Co..

Their experience with steamships led Harlan & Hollingsworth to become early experimenters in building iron railcars, for which there was still little market. By the time of the American Civil War, they were the pre-eminent shipbuilders in Wilmington, and constructed several monitors for the government. During the war, in 1863, Jacob Sharp left their employ to form Jackson & Sharp, another car-building firm, with Job Jackson.

In 1867, Hollingsworth died, the partnership was dissolved, and the enterprise incorporated as The Harlan & Hollingsworth Company. Despite competition from Jackson & Sharp, and later the Wilmington Car Works, Harlan & Hollingsworth thrived, in part because of their additional investment in shipbuilding. While they followed Jackson & Sharp into narrow gauge car building, they were, perhaps surprisingly, not in the forefront of steel car construction. By the end of the 19th century, the company was the largest employer in Wilmington.

Around 1904, the company was acquired by Bethlehem Steel and operated as part of their shipbuilding division. The shipyard closed in 1926, although it was reopened for a time during the Second World War and part of the shipyard was used by the Dravo Corporation until 1964. Railcars were built on the site until 1940, and parts for railcars until 1944. Most of the company's buildings have been demolished for new development, but the office building survives and is enrolled on the National Register of Historic Places.