YoHo Artist Community

The YoHo Artist Community works out of two of the former Alexander Smith Carpet Mills Historic District buildings, located at 540 and 578 Nepperhan Avenue in Yonkers, New York. This population of artists and crafters has grown to more than 80 working artists since 2005.

The buildings were originally developed during the turn-of-the-century and housed the Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Company, as well as numerous ancillary plants. The entire complex consisted of 38 acres with more than 40 buildings contributing. Thousands of workers filed in each workday, some manufacturing Moquette and tapestry power looms and others using these looms to weave their share of some 50,000 yards of carpet daily. At the peak of production the facility was the largest carpet manufacturer in the world, employed more than 7,000 people, and required wool from 15,000 sheep each day. Alexander Smith and Sons was the largest carpet manufacturer in the world for much of the 83 years the company was in operation here in Yonkers. During the Great Depression, it was agreed that employees’ hours would be cut, but jobs were not. The company was constantly improving their looms and increasing output.

The carpet mill maintained a good reputation and solid success until the end of World War II, when, after a number of employee strikes, the city’s largest employer relocated to Greenville, Mississippi, where workers were not unionized. In the mid-1950s the Yonkers plant shut down entirely, leaving a massive complex vacant and an estimated 5,000 workers without jobs. Many of the carpet mill’s employees had put 40 or more years of their life into this company. The stronghold along Nepperhan Avenue and the Saw Mill River, and within the Yonkers community, was suddenly empty.

With the deindustrialization of cities like Yonkers came the abandonment and deterioration of these massive buildings as communities develop an alternative economic purpose for their vacant properties. In this case, most of the 40-building complex stood empty for nearly 20 years until developers and smaller manufacturers began securing them for various uses. The two loft buildings that house the YoHo community were purchased in 1978 by Mr. Allan Eisenkraft of Yonkers Industrial Development Corporation, who spent a total of about $4.5 million in conversion renovations. The buildings were then rented out to small businesses, mainly for manufacturing or creative industrial uses. The lower floors still operate in this manner today.

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Wikipedia