The Cheney Brothers Historic District was a center of the silk industry in the late 19th and early 20th century. The 175-acre (71 ha) district in Manchester, Connecticut includes over 275 mill buildings, workers houses, churches, schools and Cheney family mansions. These structures represent the well-preserved company town of the Cheney Brothers silk manufacturing company, the first America-based silk company to properly raise and process silkworms, and to develop the difficult techniques of spinning and weaving silk. The area was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978.