Hillsboro had a silk station

After Helen Kroeker of Hillsboro received training in silk production at the Peabody Silk Station, she opened her own business at Hillsboro.

The Hillsboro mill eventually employed more people than the mill in Peabody. Many farmers in the area supplied cocoons to earn extra income.

Peter L. Janzen planted four rows of mulberries around his four-acre orchard and used the mulberry leaves to feed the silkworms.

This story was told in Bartel Ebel’s book Glimpses in a chapter about local industries and inventions. It was published in 1859.