Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Gurleyville Grist Mill
• Gurleyville Grist Mill

Use (Historic)

• Food, Beverage, Tobacco
• Paper & Wood Products

Largest Documented Workforce

n/a

Historic Narrative

'For the first nine years of my childhood the family lived most of the time in the house where I was born by the river. There I opened my eyes on the old stone mill with its large wooden water wheel, on the up-and-down saw which made boards out of logs, and on the stages of converting corn on the cob into meal or buckwheat into flour. Men and boys of all ages brought in small loads of grain and waited for it to be ground amid talk and jokes and laughter... No man could give himself more completely than my father to the work that lay before him. There were times when he managed both the grist mill and sawmill single handed, early mornings and long evenings being occupied in running the up-and-down saw through logs so that all the daylight there was could be given to grinding grain for customers coming in. This often meant a sixteen-hour day.' (Cross autobiography) Samuel Cross bought the mill in 1848. All of the milling equipment remains as Cross placed it in the 1870s, including two runs of stone, bolter, sheller, cob grinder and transmission system. The Douda family ran the mill from 1912 to 1941. Since then it has been idle, though well-maintained in substantially the same configuration as when described by Samuel's son, Governor Wilbur Cross, in his autobiography Connecticut Yankee. This remarkable survival is one of the most intact 19th-century industrial sites in Connecticut. Because of the significant role played by such mills in the diffusion of power technology in the 19th century, and because the physical integrity of the mill enables us to learn precisely what knowledge was being diffused, Gurleyville Grist Mill ranks among the most important sites in Connecticut. Joshua's Tract Conservation and Historic Trust bought the property in 1979. Research and planning are currently underway to open the mill as a museum. (Roth)

Number of Existing Buildings

One (1) block.

Dates of Construction

1830s

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Mill

Architectural Description

The stone mill was built in the 1830s. Built of local granite in coursed ashlar and with clapboarded gable ends, the mill is founded on a rubble-masonry wheelpit on the bank of the Fenton River. Much of the operating equipment, notably the square-section wrought-iron shafting, was first installed in the 1830s. In the 1870s the water wheel was replaced with a turbine mounted in the sawmill; the turbine was lost when the sawmill was demolished in the 1950s. (Roth)

Exterior Material(s)

• Stone

Structural System(s)

• Load Bearing Masonry
• Wood Frame

Roof Form

• Gable

Roof Material

n/a

Power Source

• Water (Turbine)
• Water (Wheel)

Condition

n/a

Condition Notes

http://joshuastrust.org/gurleyville-gristmill-and-house

Specific Location

NWC of Chaffeeville and Stonemill Roads

Located in Gurleyville Historic District (1975).
http://npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp/GetAsset?assetID=d786ff82-8a81-43b2-87e3-125eb895a9fd

Adjacent To

• Water (for Power)

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• 10.43.26 / Link →

Acreage

2.1

Use (Present)

n/a

Form Completed By

n/a

Date

n/a

Bibliography

1. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).
2. Clouette, Bruce. 1975. Gurleyville Historic District National Register Nomination No. 75001933. National Park Service.
3. Gurleyville Gristmill. Joshuas Tract land trust web site.