History

History of textile production

Franz Preidl (1810-1889) was a native of Líska, the oldest of 11 children, who built the first textile factory in the eastern part of the Rabštejn valley in 1860. During the years 1864 and 1867 two more textile plants were built downstream from the Kamenice River. Preidl then bought a thread factory from F. Hübel, which was built in 1858.

In 1869 the Czech northern railway line was built, which greatly contributed to the development and prosperity of Preidl’s textile concern. By the end of the 1930s Preidl’s company had 68,710 spindles to produce yarn and employed up to 1000 workers.

During the global economic depression Preidl’s factories were also affected and gradually went bankrupt. From 1938 to1941 Preidl’s textile plants progressively changed owners, who tried to revive production but to little effect. This marked the end of textile production in Rabštejn.