REPRINTED FROM LANCASTER FARMING, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2008
ANNVILLE FLOUR MILL IS NATION’S OLDEST IN OPERATION
By Sue Bowman, Southeastern Pa. Correspondent
Friends of Old Annville (FOOA) got the chance to show off one of their historic town’s gems recently when the nearly 270 year-old Annville FlouringMill at 545 West Queen Street opened its doors to the community for tours.
Intended as a fundraiser for FOOA, the group originally anticipated about 60 visitors. Instead, lovely autumn weather and a significant interest in seeing the oldest continually operating flour mill in the United States brought about 265 tour takers.
The old mill, which started out as a 2-1/2 story limestone building, dates back to the 1740s. Historians have found an advertisement for leasing the mill that ran in the March 10, 1752 edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette. The owner at that time, and probably its builder, was Andrew Miller, Annville’s founder. A dam on the nearby Quittapahilla Creek provided power for the mill, which originally operated using an undershot wheel to turn the large horizontal millstones that slowly ground a variety of grains into flours and meals.
In its early days, the mill was also used to saw lumber, as well as process wool.
The first of three houses associated with the mill was built sometime prior to its appearance on the tax rolls in 1798, probably by Abraham Herr, who had bought the mill property in 1796. This large limestone edifice is no longer part of the mill property but is still in use today as a private residence.
In 1822, a second smaller stone house was built across the street from the first home by Henry and Sara Herr, who had come to own the mill in 1813. Although this home was demolished in 1969 to make room for a large metal grain storage bin, the date stone from this structure was spared and is now mounted on the mill’s second level. Its German inscription, “In hofnung legen wir den stein. Auf hofnung las uns bauen” translates to read, “In hope we lay the stone. On hope let us build.”
Another large limestone home was built just northeast of the mill in the 1930s or 1840s by Abraham Herr, son of the Abraham Herr who had built the first mill house. This third house is still standing, but is uninhabitable after having been flooded numerous times by the nearby Quittapahilla Creek. It is no longer part of the mill premises but is in the process of being restored by new owners.
The mill underwent a number of upgrades in the early 20th century after it was bought by David Brandt. Brandt added a wooden section on top of the original stone structure; increasing the size of the mill to four stories. Brandt also replaced the old millstones with steel rollers and removed the water wheel as part of the conversion to using vertical water turbines to power the milling apparatus. The unpredictability of water power led Brandt to progress through a series of other power sources. After initially moving to a coke gas powered engine, the mill operation was next run by a gasoline engine. Two different diesel-powered motors were utilized during the 1950sand early 1960s before the Brandts finally settled on using an electric motor system, which is still in use today.
Brandt’s business was so good that the mill operated round the clock three months out of the year; the remainder of the year it ran only 12 hours per day, cranking out both flour and feed. Through the years of Brandt family ownership the mill became known for its excellent pastry flour made from locally grown soft winter wheat. Folds in the immediate area appreciated the flour for the superlative sugar cookies it helped them create. Bakeries in places such as Reading and New YorkState favored the flour for pretzels and piecrusts as well as cookies.
In more recent times, the mill sustained heavy damage during the 1972 Hurricane Agnes flood, which also took out a steel frame bridge that spanned the Quittapahilla Creek just above the millpond’s dam. The property changed hands for the last time in 2002, when the Annville Flouring Mill operation was bought by McGeary Organics of Lancaster, Pa.
McGeary uses certified organic grains to make it Daisy brand flours. The McGeary company isconcentrating its efforts on reestablishing historic wheat varieties from the late 19thand 20th century on LancasterCounty organic farms. McGeary obtains seeds from the National Seed Bank in Idaho, which provides only six grams of each of these nearly extinct varieties; it is then up to McGeary’s farming partners to plant, harvest and replant the historic grains to grow a sufficient quantity to enable milling them. McGeary hopes to begin milling the first of these historic wheats in the summer of 2010.
During its lengthy history, the Annville Mill has changed hands almost 20 times. Some of the owner’s names included Miller, Bowman, Epprecht, Old, Eyer, Ulrick, Reist, Herr, Killinger, Brandt, Hershey – and now, McGeary.
LeRoy Brandt, a miller, was born in the smallest stone house on the property back in 1927 and went on to work at the mill from 1951 until his retirement in 1996. LeRoy Brandt was on hand during the tours to describe the milling process.