How America's Silk Kings Lost Their Own Town

For almost a century, one family in Manchester, Connecticut owned the mills, the railroad, the power company and the homes their workers lived in. This is the story of the Cheney silk dynasty: a failed tree bubble, America's biggest silk business, a private company town, the Great Depression, and where the family's name shows up today. Sources: ConnecticutHistory.org; Today in Connecticut History; U.S. National Park Service; Manchester Historical Society; Cheney Cemetery Association; Wikipedia (Cheney Brothers Historic District, South Manchester Railroad, Howell Cheney, Kate Chappell). Dollar figures are nominal values of their time. Music: 'There Was A Time' and 'Aphelion' by Scott Buckley, released under CC-BY 4.0 — www.scottbuckley.com.au This video uses AI-assisted visuals and narration. For education and entertainment only. This channel uses AI-assisted visuals and narration. Content is for entertainment and education only, not financial advice. 00:00 Intro: The auction 01:27 Chapter 1: The Bubble 04:06 Chapter 2: The Town They Built 08:06 Chapter 3: The Peak 09:09 Chapter 4: The Fall 12:54 Chapter 5: What Happened Next 15:17 The lesson #Cheney #ConnecticutHistory #SilkIndustry #CompanyTown #AmericanHistory #FamilyDynasty #ManchesterConnecticut #GreatDepression