J. & J. Dobson, Carpet, Blanket, Cloth and Plush Mills, Philadelphia. The stream shown in blue was known either as Dobson's Run or, on early maps, Falls Run, for its location in the city's East Falls neighborhood. Search for "Dobson" to find other related material on this site.

Dobson's Run had two branches. One had its source near the Queen Lane railroad station in Germantown, and the other branch began near the old Nicetown Steel Works in the city's Nicetown neighborhood. These two small streams joined about 1-¾ miles east of the Schuylkill and eventually flowed through the property of John and James Dobson, who owned and operated many textile mills in the Philadelphia area. The Dobson mill east of Ridge Avenue in Falls Village (as East Falls was originally called) used the water from Dobson's Run for industrial processes and for waste disposal. This mill was one of the largest carpet factories in the world in the latter decades of the 19th century.