Monday, February 19, 2024 (Presidents Day)
Monday, February 19, 2024 (Presidents Day)
Shelby County Mills Once Flourished
Editor’s note: The following typed document was among files the late David Craig gave me a few years ago. Although apparently written in 1964, I cannot ascertain its author. Above, an accompanying map of mills (numbered) on the Flat Rock River.
“The creaking old mill now is still, Maggie…”
As the old song says, most of the mills in Shelby County are still, now.
There are, however, several of these old relics in existence today which have withstood time’s inexorable toll and are as utilitarian in their fashion as they were in the pioneer days of Shelby County.
To underline the remarkable character of the remaining structures, consider first the history of the grist mill. The grist or flour mill was one of the first requisites in the settling of an area. They were the hub of activity and, in many cases, communities sprang up around the mill. Usually there was a saw mill attached where the pioneers could obtain lumber to build houses, sheds and barns on their newly purchased land.
The first settlers in Shelby County were forced to “go to mill” at White Water in Franklin County, a trip of some 40 miles, usually involving a long wait upon arrival for their turn at grinding. In addition, the trip was made either by a two-wheeled cart pulled by a team of oxen or by horseback, sitting astride a large sack of grain - certainly not an easy journey either way.
For approximately three years after the first cabins were erected in the wilderness of Shelby County, White Water and then Quarry’s Mill near Moscow in Decatur County were used when hand grinding proved insufficient.
According to Chadwick’s Shelby County History, published in 1909, the first mill in the county was built by John Walker on Blue River in 1822.
The year 1823 saw a veritable rash of mills spring into being - Abel Summers’ mill in Little Marion, the Marion Flouring Mills; the Freeport Mill, built by Ira Bailey and managed by Lathrop Francis, and Isaac Drake’s mill on Flat Rock River.
On Jan. 28, 1828, Sugar Creek was declared navigable to Manan’s Mill in Moral Township, which may have been the site of Dobbletown and Dobble’s Mill.
Two of the most prominent mills in the 1800s were erected in Shelbyville. The old Water Mill, built by John Walker, was later purchased and enlarged by Elliot and Company and became the Shelby Flour and Grist Mill, better known as the Shelby Mills. The dam for the mill race was on Blue River at a site on a line projected north from the end of Noble St.; the mill race is still located under the Standard Grocery parking lot. At one time a foot bridge spanned the race where Harrison Street is today. Several owners operated the mill successfully until it was eventually replaced by the Porter Memorial Swimming Pool in 1930.
The other flourishing milling enterprise in the city of Shelbyville was the Star Mills, originally erected in 1856 by H.P. Johnson. It boasted a fourth floor ballroom known as Johnson Hall. Purchased by George Kennedy and John M. Brown in 1883, a new roller system process was installed, powered by steam. The Star Mill was located by the New York Central railroad near where the Kennedy Hotel stands today.
Another well-known mill, the Hanover Mill in the northern part of the county, rivaled and sometimes even exceeded in production Shelbyville’s two flourishing flour centers.
In the 1880 Atlas of Shelby County, mills may be found in practically every township. Hanover Township could boast of three; VanBuren, Moral, Marion and Noble all had two, and most of the other townships at least one. With the coming of steam power, better roads and better transportation facilities, the mills, with their ponderous water wheels and imported French grinding burrs, gradually fell into disuse and decay until today nothing remains to indicate their presence except a stone headgate, a crumbling foundation or the dry bed of a mill race.
At least two of Shelby County’s mills have survived, although one has changed radically in character. The Holland Mill of Noble Township and the Red Mills of Sugar Creek Township alone remain to remind us of the many mills once thriving in our county.
The Holland Mill has become Millcliff Hall, the magnificent home of Mr. and Mrs. Major T. Jester.
The original frame mill, located due west of Geneva on Flat Rock River, was built by two brothers, the Copelands, from North Carolina, across the river from the present site.
In 1862, a brick structure was erected by the two daughters of the Copelands who had married brothers by the name of Charles, thereby becoming the Charles Mill.
From 1910 until 1928 the mill was known as the Holland Mill.
When purchased by the Jesters in 1954, the mill had been closed 26 years. Remodeling was begun in 1957 and completed in April 1958. Of two houses situated on the property, the miller’s house is now occupied by Jester’s cousin, Mrs. Leone Hall. The date, 1865, may be found carved on a beam in the attic of the house.
The mill race still runs beneath the Jester home and the turbine machinery is still there. Above it one finds it hard to believe that at one time the beautifully furnished rooms were the scene of noisy activity, with farmers bringing their grain down the Vandalia Road to be made into flour, their horses impatiently stamping the ground while the large burrs turned out the all-important cornmeal.
Picture now the last remaining mill as such in Shelby County. It is a fall day - the mill stream gurgled underneath the mill; cattle are grazing in a nearby pasture. Suddenly, the mill trembles with the noise of the rollers grinding corn. Instead of 1964, it might be 1821, the year the mill was erected, according to its owner, Fred Garver.
The famous Red Mills, one mile north of Boggstown, is still grinding corn for farmers of Sugar Creek Township and Shelby County, just as it did 143 years ago. The central part of the present mill is the original building. The heavy beams, made by hand, still support the structure. In front of the mill is an iron pulley, once used to haul sacks of grain to the top story. North of the mill, where the race flows off Sugar Creek, one may see the old headgates; the four sets of French stone burs, chiseled by hand, are still there, although no longer in use.
Coming from Ohio by ox cart, Joseph Hough, assisted by his two brothers, Sam and Zimri, located his mill near the Whetzel Trace. The oxen yoke he used still hangs on the front of the mill.
A log house (later remodeled with brick) was erected across the road from the mill for the Houghs. From their grandsons, Frank, Hamb and Sam Webb, Garver learned tales of bears raiding the Hough sheep in the miller’s yard and of an Indiana trading pints of beer for cornmeal.
In 1870, Garver’s grandfather, John Rasp, arrived in Shelby County from Bavaria, by way of Millersville, Marion County, and purchased the mill. Garver’s uncle, Fred Rasp, joined his father in the operation and the mill was converted to the roller system in 1900. This is still in use today, with water and electricity powering the machinery.
Garver, who was born in the miller’s house, purchased the mill in 1921 and has been serving the surrounding countryside ever since.
The Red Mills, a living reminder of Shelby County heritage, imparts a sense of being in another era - it is as if time had stood still.
The march of progress has stilled the “creaking old mill.” Shelby County is fortunate that in the Red Mills and Millcliff Hall she may still recapture the aura of the more peaceful day when she was young.
NOTEBOOK:
The regular Shelby County Commissioners meeting has been moved to tomorrow, Tuesday, 8 a.m., in the courthouse annex, due to today’s holiday. Shelbyville City Council will meet as scheduled tonight at City Hall, 6 p.m.
NATIONAL NEWS: The National Chicken Council estimated 1.45 billion wings were eaten on Super Bowl Sunday, and while that was bad news for approximately 700 million chickens, it does shine a spotlight on one of the most volatile and arguably liminal dishes on a given menu. Restaurants have been agonizing over wings, and how precisely to sell them. Are they an appetizer, or are they a main course? Historically, wings were considered an app, but that perception has shifted as a number of restaurants emerged that treated them as the main star. That perception change has been costly for restaurants: If they're an appetizer, they're priced lower than a main course, and restaurants sweat it when it becomes popular for diners to order a cheaper app as their main. It's led some restaurants to try to bury the wings on their menus, so that only the diehards will find them. (Marketwatch/Numlock)
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This Day in Shelby County History
2014: The home market was off to a slow start, with sales in Shelby County decreasing 61 percent from December 2013 to January 2014. Significant snowfall and freezing temperatures were attributed to the drop.
2004: The Shelby County Council approved an ordinance committing the county to spend $125,000 annually until 2028 to build infrastructure in Intelliplex Park. The City of Shelbyville and Major Hospital had committed the same amounts to the project. Major Hospital CEO Tony Lennen said the bonds could be paid off early if the Intelliplex developed quickly and started generating income.
An accident at the intersection of Marion Road and CR 300 East was attributed to a cat, which was not in a carrier, jumping on a driver’s lap, causing the driver to hit the accelerator and enter the intersection while trying to remove the cat. No personal injuries were reported.
1994: Shelby County had lost 127 farms from 1987 to 1992, U.S. Census Bureau statistics showed. The 15 percent decline was greater than the state’s 11 percent decline. Shelby County had 876 farms in 1987 and 749 in 1992, although the amount of farmland remained about even - 217,961 acres in 1987 and 217,288 acres in 1992. There had been 32 farms that raised chickens in 1987 in Shelby County, and only 21 in 1992.
1984: Eugene Fair, who was working in a nearby garage, did not notice smoke billowing from his house in Geneva. A passerby stopped to tell him. The fire caused extensive damage. There were no people in the house, but a pet dog was injured and a guinea pig died.
1974: Jerry J. Lux announced he was running for re-election as Shelby County Prosecutor. Lux, 32, had graduated from Waldron High School in 1958, Indiana University in 1964 and from I.U. Law School in Indianapolis in 1969. He was also an associate in the law firm of Terry, Robison & Graebe. Lux and his wife, Martha (Marti) Jo, were the parents of John Dale and Mary Melanie. They lived at 524 Tom Van Arden Dr.
1964: Architects released sketches of the incoming Belaire Shopping Center on East State Road 44. A supermarket and a J.C. Penney store would have the corner locations. There would be parking for 1,200 cars. Other committed stores included a shoe store, a variety store, a drug store and a branch of The Shelby National Bank.
1954: Seats 51 through 56 on the James Whitcomb Riley would be reserved daily for Shelbyville passengers looking for last-minute tickets to Chicago, New York Central train officials announced. The train left Shelbyville daily at 8:37 a.m. and returned at 8:37 p.m.
The Palms Cafe and Soda Bar, 209 S. Harrison St., was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Marshall, Manilla, from Nate Kaufman. The name would be changed to Marshall’s Cafe and Soda Bar.
1944: The Shelby County Bar Association gave a farewell dinner for County Clerk Morris DePrez, who was leaving Feb. 26 for service with the U.S. Navy. The event was held at the Shelby Hotel. Members of the Association presented him gifts, including a Navy bag. Those in attendance were Judge Harold Barger, Ralph Adams, Herbert Jones, Oscar Williams, Emerson Brunner, Warren Brown, Claude Henry, Sumner Terry, A.E. Lisher, Dale Rafferty, Walter Reese, George Meiks, George L. Stubbs, Everet Stroup, George Tolen, Fred Cramer, Gordon Thurston, Harold Meloy, William Yarling and Walter Myers.
1934: The Shelbyville Republican published a story about the Great Depression, noting an unnamed Shelbyville man, “now old and ailing,” who had built a good savings while operating a local business over the years. “Now, with all assets of his firm frozen in a mass of uncollectable debts, he and his wife face an old age in which even ordinary creature comforts are alike to be denied them,” the paper said. “These are the people for whom the depression will never be a thing of the past.”
1924: A popular Johnson County teacher had resigned to accept another position in the northern part of the state, The Shelbyville Republican reported. When she was hired, it was with the provision she could ride in the back of the school bus for transportation to school, but the township trustee had revoked that provision, causing her to resign.
Major Moberly, 16, broke his left ankle while wrestling with a friend at a local confectionary.
1914: A state report said Shelbyville was one of the finest cities in Indiana. “Our factories are all owned and operated by home men. The workmen own their own homes to a greater percent than in any other city in the state and our people have money on deposit with the banks, trust company and the building and loan associations than in any other city in the state,” The Republican said. The paper went on to call Shelby County “God’s Garden” due to its fertile soil.
OBITUARIES
None today