Old Grist Mill in Ohio is still filled with Milling Equipment

Rummell Mill, Butler Ohio

Date added: December 03, 2023 Categories: Ohio Mill

Rummell Mill is one of the oldest and best preserved grist mills in North Central Ohio. It is the only mill in Richland County to survive with its machinery intact and was the last water-powered grist mill in this part of the state to cease operations, which occurred in the later 1940's. It has widespread recognition as a major landmark and an interesting history as one of the early mills of this region that in its day was a center of commerce and social activity. Rummell Mill stands as a reminder of Richland County's former role as the location of more water-powered mills then any other county in Ohio.

Jacob Armentrout first recognized the potential of this site when he constructed a saw mill here in the 1840's. Usually sawmills were the first type of mill built in an area as they provided lumber for other buildings. Daniel J. Rummell acquired the site from Armentrout and built the present mill about 1850. In the nineteenth century this was one of three mills along the Clear Fork which ground corn for pioneer settlers. For many years after Rummell sold it, the mill was known as the Butler Mill. The mill race was changed and the old water wheel was discarded in favor of more modern turbines. During its last years the building was known as the O'Sharon Mill.

In 1840 Richland County, which was the largest county in the state, had 82 gristmills, more than any other county. One hundred and six water powered sawmills were also located in the county, which, added to the gristmills and two linseed oil mills made 190 operating mills in this one county. Woolen, carding and other types of water powered mills are not included. No doubt the presence of the swiftly moving streams in this hilly yet very fertile area played a major role in this industry. In 1860, when Richland County had been reduced in size by the creation of additional counties, it still ranked ahead of all others with 34 gristmills. Few survive today, and the Rummell Mill is widely regarded as the largest and best preserved mill in the region.

Building Description

Located about one mile east of the village of Butler on the banks of the Clear Fork, the Rummell Mill is a large wood frame structure. The building is rectangular in shape, measuring about 33 by 42 feet, and is about 35 feet high at the eaves and about 50 feet tall at the peak. This wood frame structure rests on a foundation of cut sandstone and is covered with clapboard siding. The presence of wide corner boards and a simple massive entablature with returns on the gable ends give this building its Greek Revival character. Window openings are long and rectangular with nine over six sash. The front and sides are three bays wide. The front of the building, or gable end, faces away from the river and has no openings on the first floor. On the top three floors are large doors in the middle of each level. A large hoist anchored at the peak of the roof was used to transport material to these doors. Erected on a sloping bank, the building appears taller from the river with its sandstone basement exposed. On the west end of the building is a rectangular lean-to addition, two stories tall. This structure houses the turbine in the basement and storage space on the two upper levels. It was added in the late nineteenth century when the original waterwheel was replaced by this more efficient power source.

Inside, the building has only a partial basement toward the river end. The interior is filled with milling apparatus such as separators, purifiers, grinders, and so forth. Chutes and trap doors extend throughout. Massive turning wheels connected to the turbine by large belts occupy much of the first floor, which has a lower ceiling height. Most of the equipment is not original, but dates from the late nineteenth century. Supplied by various manufacturers, the equipment bears patent dates primarily from the 1870s and 1880s. The second and third floors have fifteen-foot high ceilings and are supported by massive wood columns joined together in a highly skilled mortise and tenon construction. An office is in the northeast corner of the second floor and has weighing scales. The fourth floor is low at the sides, following the slope of the roof, and is lighted by narrow entablature windows except at the ends. It slopes up to a height of about eighteen feet on the center and, like the other levels, is filled with machinery. A large, massive stairway connects all four levels.

Clear Fork flows about ten feet south of the mill and is normally shallow and swift-moving. About a thousand feet upstream the old mill race begins. It forms a mill pond northwest of the building. Another channel once led water into the turbine, through the basement and out the east end of the building. About one hundred feet east of the mill is an old metal Pratt Truss bridge with a wood deck. The setting of the mill is highly picturesque with shade trees and shrubbery and a hilly terrain.

The building has deteriorated since its closing. It is unpainted and some of the siding is deteriorating. Settling is evident throughout but the basic structure is sound. The last repairs of a major nature were made to the building by Amish carpenters in 1974.

The mill race roughly parallels the river and has a deteriorated concrete guard lock at its mouth approximately 1000' upstream.