Take a drive down West Union Street in Athens along the Hocking River, and you eventually will see a quintessential landmark of Athens County across the river: White’s Mill.
Established in 1809, as indicated on the side of the building, White’s Mill is one of the oldest and longest continuously operating businesses in the county.
The current White’s Mill business is celebrating recent renovations to its interior this Saturday, Dec. 10, with an open house. (More information at the end of this article.)
Mills were once an essential business in this area and others. Neighboring farmers would bring their grain to the mill to have it ground into flour, paying a service fee (sometimes part of the resulting flour or meal). By 1840, the U.S. had more than 23,000 grain mills, according to the Old Sturbridge Village history museum website.
Names such as “White’s Mill” and “Mill Street” hint at how important mills were. A now-gone bar across the river on West Union Street was called the Millview East.
“You wouldn’t go three or four miles without running into a mill on the Hocking River,” said Tyler Schloss, a longtime employee and new co-owner of White’s Mill.
The place wasn’t always called White’s Mill. Revolutionary War Capt. Silas Bingham built the first mill at the site with a large sandstone foundation and a 10-foot wooden dam that fed water to the mill’s wooden water wheel.
The next owner of the mill was Joseph Herrold, who purchased it in 1840 and it was “Herrold’s Mill” until the early 1900s. The mill’s waterwheel was replaced in 1895.
Edward White purchased the mill in 1911, and it became White’s Mill. The mill was successful, but a fire on Oct. 2, 1912 destroyed the building.
The enterprising White found the former Nathan Vale mill in Meigs County and bought it. Mike Toomey, a former owner of the mill, said the Meigs County structure was disassembled and brought in “piece by piece,” for reassembly on the old White’s Mill site. The new old mill opened for business in 1915.
The mill received several additions over time: as a turbine house in 1945, a concrete-block storeroom and office in 1954, and a pole barn in the 1970s. The dam was destroyed and repaired in 1961, but was severely damaged by a flood in 1975.
The store portion of the building was operated in a concrete-block building for decades, leaving the old, original portion of the mill as a storage room. Over the last seven years a project to restore and open the older portion of the mill to the public has been underway.
The owners finished the older side and made it retail space, more than doubling the display area. It opened to the day after Thanksgiving. “It was kind of a challenge, but we made it,” Schloss said.
Much of the new space used old materials. Schloss said that old grain bins were used to create the counter tops, old grain chutes were used for the trim, and old doors became the fronts of the counters. Some of the old machinery remains, most in its original location, now amid shelves and displays of goods for sale.
The mill will host a “Back in Time for the Holidays” open house to celebrate the the newlt remodeled part of the store this Saturday, Dec. 10. Schloss said it’s a good way to show customer appreciation because “we couldn’t have done it without them.”
The open house starts with catering by Ohio Foothills Custom Catering around 2 p.m., and then will feature music by Laura Nadeau and Catfish (from the local country-rock group Stella) from 6-8:30 p.m. Also on offer will be free samples of Jackie O’s beer from 6 p.m. until it’s gone.
From The Athens News
