Seaford, Delaware: Nylon Capital of the World

On December fifteenth, nineteen thirty-nine, a six-story factory in Seaford, Delaware began producing a synthetic fiber that would change how Americans dressed, what soldiers wore, and what women expected from a pair of stockings. The world's first nylon plant, built by DuPont on the banks of the Nanticoke River, opened just nine months after groundbreaking. In its first year, working around the clock, the plant produced enough nylon for sixty-four million items.

During World War Two, the Seaford plant shifted entirely to military goods: parachutes, mosquito netting, tents. The town called itself the Nylon Capital of the World, and for several decades the claim was accurate. DuPont eventually sold the fiber division in two thousand four.

The plant that started it all is long gone, but the title Seaford gave itself still turns up on signs around town.