Carroll County Mills A-to-Lee Introduction The 1840 census listed for Carroll County: 7 fulling mills, 4 paper mills, 68 sawmills, 28 distilleries, 26 tanneries, 3 oil mills, 68 flour and grist mills, and 2 woolen mills. The 1880 census of manufactures showed that there were only 11 predominantly merchant mills versus 48 mostly custom mill in the county. The “Mrs. Barnes list” frequently cited in these entries was worked up by Mrs. Edgar G. (Vivian) Barnes in the mid-1960s as a card file based on the 1862 map by Simon J. Martenet; in some cases, it is difficult to match up mills found on the various maps of 1795, 1808, 1862, and the atlas of 1877, the Rural Free Delivery map, and present geological topographic maps. The Mrs. Barnes list also referenced some undated clippings and sales notices. ABBOT MILL (8) See Lee-Richards Mill. ABBY FURNACE ( ) Clerical error for Elba Furnace owned by James Tyson at Sykesville, 1866 State business directory, p. 118. ADAMS MILL ROAD (7) Adams Mill Road formerly led to Wagners Mill, q. v. ALBERT LIME KILN (7) R. F. Albert was listed as lime burner at Warfieldsburg in the 1880 State business directory. ALEXANDERS MILL (9) Same as Sams Creek Mill. ALLENDER MILL (10) See Spring Grove Mill at Detour. ANDERS MILL (10) See Delaplaine Mill. 1 ANDERS MILL (10) The 1850 census listed Jesse Anders mill worth $3000 with 2 employees, 3 pair of stones, and annual output of 800 bbl flour, etc. ($5000). Apparently distinct from Delaplaine Mill which passed to an Anders in 1878. ANDERSON SAWMILL (4) The atlas showed the steam sawmill of M. and T. Anderson on Middle Run NW of Mechanicsville. The 1880 census listed the Andersons with $2000 capital, 4 employees, 1 each circular and Muley saw, and 25 hp engine. Annual output was 400,000 ft lumber and 5000 laths ($7200). The partners did half the logging. ANNAN MILL (1)) Same as Delaplane Mill. APPOLD TANNERY (6) The Union Tannery of Andrew Appold was shown in the atlas SE of Manchester on the north side of present Maple Grove Road. The 1880 census of manufactures listed Andrew Appold with $19,000 capital, 6 hands, and annual output of 5000 sides ($34,000). ARNOLD SAWMILL (7) The William Arnold and Son sawmill was operating in 1972 on U. S. 140 below Westminster, across the road from the State Police barracks. ARTERS MILL (3) The 1794-1795 map by Dennis Griffith showed Groff Mill at Erbs Church west of Westminster-Littlestown Pike on the Big Pipe Creek. The 1709 tax list showed John Groff, Senior’s heirs with part of Dyers Mill Forrest, having built a small stone kitchen and addition to the mil,” adding £ 500 to the tax base. The F. Groff mill appeared on Charles Varlé’s 1808 map. The same as Old Graves Mill, it occupied the site of the more recent Dodrer-Arters mill, HWM, p. 864. Scharf stated that the mill was built in 1776 by two Tories named Groff who had been driven out of Philadelphia; they suppressed their opinions and prospered in what was then Frederick County, p. 814. The present Arters Mill was G. Dodrer’s on the 1862 Martenet county map. James E. Dodrer, an atlas patron, was shown as proprietor of the Old Graves Mill at Silver Run postal address; his grist and saw mill was on Big Pipe Creek at Stone Road. 2 Arters Mill Arters mill Road was a dirt route until October 1966. The mill passed to Jonathan H. Sherwood and was at that time closed but in good repair, a 2-½-story structure of clapboard on a stone foundation one story high. The wood siding was painted a deep red. Stones set in the wall were marked “ELB. G” and “I. Groff 1781.” This mill still existed in 2006. This mill bears MHT Site No. CARR-97. Location is 11-F-1 in the ADC Street Atlas. ARMACOST MILL (2) The M. M. Armacost grist and saw mill was shown on Georges Run in the 1862 county map by Martenet. Location was 15-B-8 in the ADC Street Atlas. ATLEE SAWMILL ( ) The 1798 tax list of Unity and Burnt House Woods Hundreds showed Isaac Atlee with a sawmill purchased from Thomas Lloyd. ATTLEE FOUNDRY (2) The 1850 census of manufactures listed James C. Atlee, machinist, with a water- powered foundry of one fire worth $3000; 18 employees, and annual output of 50 threshing machines, plus castings, total value of $9480. Located near New Windsor. AVONDALE MILL (7) David Shriver, born at Conewago, Pa., founded a gristmill and tannery in 1760, HWM, p. 790. It was 2 miles SW of Westminster where Copps Branch joins Little Pipe Creek, at or near the mill symbol on the 1808 Charles Varlé map, at a site now called Avondale. The 1798 tax list showed David Shriver, Senr., with Good Fellowship, Content, and Mistake tracts, plus a log mill in Pipe Creek and Westminster Hundreds. 3 By 1882, Shriver’s home was that of Augustus Shriver, HWM, p. 919. The 1877 atlas showed this as David Moul Mill, and Daniel Baker was listed as miller at Avondale in the 1887 State business directory. “The Avondale Flour Mill at Avondale, Md., was obliged to shut down in the middle of February on account of the ice, which cut off the water power,” American Miller, 27 (March 1, 1889): 243. The mill was carried on by William August Shriver until about 1911. Once a year, the neighbors helped shovel out the millrace. Mrs. Shriver always cooked two old roosters to feed the volunteers. A man in Westminster regularly bought all the eels found in the mud. Dr. Tracey’s papers contained the note, “Avondale Mill. The mill was built by Mr. Moul and bought by William A. Shriver about 1886. The mill was located on the New Windsor Road near Avondale. The mill was torn down about thirty-five years ago, but the mill race can still be traced today. The mill made flour and then turned to making feed, hominy, corn meal, and cracked corn. Report given by Mrs. Frank M. Beggs.” [ca. 1960]. During the author’s explorations, Avondale was the site of a modern feed mill on the Western Maryland Railroad [now Maryland Midland]. The railway stop was called Medford. The feed mill, now [1976] closed, handled Sherwood Feeds and distributed D. & G. hand poultry feed. The building was next to the tracks, a cream colored, clapboard structure. The feed mill was still standing October 25, 1987, but was empty and abandoned. The hardware warehouse next to it was still there. The railroad line still served the nearby Genstar quarry. A photograph of the Avondale Mill appeared in Joe Getty, Carroll’s Heritage, p. 37. BABYLON MILL (2) The 1850 census of manufactures listed the Michael Babylon water mill with $3000 capital investment, 1 employee, 2 pair of stones, and annual output of 1000 bbl flour ($200) and other work ($300). BABYLON MILL (2) J. Babylon’s mill was shown on Meadow Branch and Frizzellburg Road on the 1862 Martenet county map. Also shown in the atlas on the west side of the road. The 1880 census of manufactures listed George Babylon doing his own logging for a sawmill with $500 capital investment with one each circular and Muley saw. A 14- foot fall on Meadow Branch drove a 14 hp overshot wheel 4 ft broad at 16 rpm to cut 20,000 ft lumber/annum and 80,000 laths ($150). 4 The custom flour mill with $1500 capital investment had 1 employee, 2 run of stones, and 50 bu/diem maximum capacity . An 18-foot fall drove a 16 hp overshot wheel, 3.5 ft broad at 8 rpm. Annual output was 100 bbl flour, 81.2 tons meal, and 6 tons feed ($3150). Mill extinct. BABYLON MILL (3) BABYLON ROAD Babylon Mill is a red structure of wood and clapboard, usually freshly painted, with a foundation of the local red Triassic stone, standing in a group of farm buildings near an old brick house of Federal style that was in ruins in 1976. On Silver Run, the mill was one-eighth mile west of Mayberry Road, the same as the Joseph E. Hahn Mill of the 1862 Martenet county map and the 1887 atlas. Edward M. Hahn advertised in the atlas, offering flour, feed, and custom grinding, sawing to order. The 1880 census of manufactures listed W. J. Hahn flour mill with $3000 capital investment, 40 bu/diem maximum capacity, 2 run of stones, and all custom business. A 15-foot fall on Silver Run drove an 8 hp overshot wheel 4 ft broad at 10 rpm. Annual output was 210 bbl flour, 25 tons meal, 60 tons feed, .5 tons hominy, and 500 lb buckwheat ($4500). The sawmill worth $500 had a 5 hp, 100 rpm flutter wheel 4 ft broad to cut 13,000 ft lumber and 7000 laths ($500) over a 2-month season. The mill was occupied by A. L. McDaniel in 1966 but was out of service. BACHMAN MILLS (6) Built in 1780, this was originally Bowers Mill. There was a petition for a road from Christian Bower’s Mill on Big Pipe Creek to the Ox Moor Mills on Patapsco Falls, and from thence into the main road leading through Westminster to Baltimore Town, Md. Journal & Baltimore Advertiser, December 21, 1787. The General Assembly acted on the petition in Laws of Md., Acts of 1789, Chapter 2.