Joshua Twing Gristmill

Last updated
Joshua Twing Gristmill
BarreVT JoshuaTwingGristmill.jpg
USA Vermont location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location450 N. Main St., Barre, Vermont
Coordinates 44°12′18″N72°30′41″W / 44.20500°N 72.51139°W / 44.20500; -72.51139 Coordinates: 44°12′18″N72°30′41″W / 44.20500°N 72.51139°W / 44.20500; -72.51139
Area1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built1844 (1844)
Built byTwing, Joshua
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No. 78000248 [1]
Added to NRHPDecember 29, 1978

The Joshua Twing Gristmill is a historic industrial facility at 450 North Main Street in the city of Barre, Vermont. Built in 1844, it is a remarkably high-style example of Greek Revival architecture for an essentially utilitarian industrial structure. Joshua Twing, its builder, was engaged for many years in a variety of industrial pursuits, primarily considered with engineering improvements in water wheels and turbines. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. [1]

Contents

Description and history

The Joshua Twing Gristmill is located north of downtown Barre, in an industrial area on the west side of North Main Street (United States Route 302) south of its junction with Berlin Street. It is set between the road and railroad tracks that parallel it and the Stevens Branch of the Winooski River. It is a 2-3/4 story brick building with a gabled roof. Windows are set in rectangular openings, with stone sills and lintels. Projecting from the center of the main facade is an unusual stair tower, whose ground level is fronted by a brick wall with stone headers, and is open at the sides, allowing a wagon to pass underneath the second level. A large entrance is set in a granite frame on the second level, and was originally accessed by stairs that have been removed. The interior of the stair tower includes trap doors to facilitate the movement of goods to the building's third level. The interior of the building has a number of high-style Greek Revival features, including a double-spiral staircase and marbleized columns. [2]

Joshua Twing purchased this property in 1807, at which time a sawmill and gristmill stood on it. Over a period of decades, he built a series of mills and industrial structures on the property, of which this gristmill is the only one to survive. Twing's major business was in the production of iron parts, for which he built a foundry in 1818. He produced parts for use in mills, including waterwheels and possibly turbines, but also engaged in other pursuits, including the custom grinding of grains. The facilities continued to be used until the turn of the 20th century for the production of water power technology; most of the complex was demolished in the 1960s. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Aldrich Public Library United States historic place

The Aldrich Public Library is the public library serving the city of Barre, Vermont. It is located at 6 Washington Street in the city center, in an architecturally distinguished Classical Revival building constructed in 1907-08 with funds bequested by Leonard Frost Aldrich, a local businessman, and was substantially enlarged in 2000. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Union Church (New Haven, Vermont) United States historic place

Union Church, also known as the Union Church of New Haven Mills is a historic church at the junction of River Rd. and East Street in New Haven, Vermont. Built in 1851, it is a fine local example of Greek Revival architecture with added Queen Anne Victorian features, and one of the oldest surviving buildings in a once-thriving mill village. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Pine Creek Gristmill United States historic place

Pine Creek Gristmill is a historic building located in Wildcat Den State Park in Muscatine County, Iowa, United States. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Pembroke Mill United States historic place

The Pembroke Mill, now the Emerson Mills Condominiums, is a historic mill building at 100 Main Street in the village of Suncook in the town of Pembroke, New Hampshire, on the north bank of the Suncook River. Built in 1860, it is an early example of Renaissance Revival mill architecture, and was a major force in the growth of Suncook as an economic center. The mill building, now converted to residences, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Suncook Village Commercial–Civic Historic District United States historic place

The Suncook Village Commercial–Civic Historic District encompasses the civic and commercial heart of Suncook, New Hampshire, a village on the Suncook River in Pembroke and Allenstown. The civic district is a 3-acre (1.2 ha) area on the Pembroke side of the river, adjacent to the Pembroke Mill, a site that had seen industrial use since the 18th century. The district includes 21 commercial buildings, 19 of which are historically significant. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Ashland Gristmill and Dam United States historic place

The Ashland Gristmill and Dam are a historic former industrial facility in the heart of Ashland, New Hampshire. Built in 1903 on the site of an older mill, the gristmill demonstrates the continuing viability of wood framing for mill buildings in an era when it had become uncommon. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It has been converted to professional offices.

Belknap-Sulloway Mill United States historic place

The Belknap-Sulloway Mill, now the Belknap Mill Museum, is a historic mill at 25 Beacon Street East in Laconia, New Hampshire, a city in Belknap County. Built sometime between 1823 and 1828, it is a rare well-preserved example of an early rural textile mill in New England, and was the business around which the city rose. The mill was in active use for the production of textiles until 1969, undergoing some modest alterations as well as the modernization of its power plant. It was opened as a museum in 1991, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Bridgewater Woolen Mill United States historic place

The Bridgewater Woolen Mill, now more commonly the Bridgewater Mill Mall, is a historic textile mill complex on United States Route 4 in Bridgewater and Woodstock, Vermont. With an textile processing history dating from 1828 to 1975, it was one of the state's longest-lived textile operations, and was a mainstay of the local economy during that period. It has since been repurposed into a shopping center. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Twing Buckman House United States historic place

The Twing Bucknam House is a historic house on United States Route 5 south of the main village of Windsor, Vermont. Built about 1840, it is a modest brick house with a combination of features that is unique to the state and the surrounding communities. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Vergennes Residential Historic District United States historic place

The Vergennes Residential Historic District encompasses a neighborhood south of downtown Vergennes, Vermont that encapsulates an architectural cross-section of the city's 19th and early 20th-century residential history. Set on Water, Maple, and Green Streets, it includes houses built and occupied by a diversity of the city's economic classes, from mill owners to laborers. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Hayward and Kibby Mill United States historic place

The Hayward and Kibby Mill, also known as the Tunbridge Mill, is a historic industrial facility on Spring Road in Tunbridge, Vermont. It includes a substantially complete water-powered 19th-century grist mill dating back to 1820, with a later sawmill added about 1870. It is one of the few surviving water-powered mills in the state, and is believed to be the only one featuring both a sawmill and grist (grain) mill. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Jedediah Strong II House Building in Vermont, United States

The Jedediah Strong II House is a historic house at the junction of Quechee Main Street and Dewey's Mill Road in Hartford, Vermont. Built in 1815 by a local mill owner, it is a fine local example of a high-style Federal period brick house. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It now houses professional offices.

Hoag Gristmill and Knight House Complex United States historic place

The Hoag Gristmill and Knight House Complex is a former industrial site on State Prison Hollow Road in Starksboro, Vermont. With an industrial history dating to the 1790s, the surviving mill and c. 1820s house are an important reminder of the town's early industrial history. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Thetford Center Historic District United States historic place

The Thetford Center Historic District encompasses the village of Thetford Center in Thetford, Vermont. The village contains a well-preserved collection of early to mid-19th century architecture, a legacy of its period of greatest prosperity as an agricultural and industrial center. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Downtown Richford Historic District United States historic place

The Downtown Richford Historic District encompasses a cluster of commercial and industrial buildings at the center of Richford, Vermont. Centered on the junction of Main and River Streets are a cluster of mainly brick buildings, built between 1880 and 1920, with several industrial properties just across the Missisquoi River to the south, whose waters provided the power for the industries that fueled the town's growth. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Scampini Block United States historic place

The Scampini Block is a historic commercial building at 289 North Main Street in the city of Barre, Vermont. Built in 1904, it is an elegant showcase of the skills of local granite carvers, and was for many years a social center for the area's large immigrant stoneworkers. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

E. L. Smith Roundhouse Granite Shed United States historic place

The E.L. Smith Roundhouse Granite Shed is a historic granite shed at 23 Burnham Street in the city of Barre, Vermont. Built in 1889, it is the only known surviving example of a circular granite cutting shed in the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Wheelock Law Office United States historic place

The Wheelock Law Office is a historic commercial building at 135 North Main Street in the city of Barre, Vermont. Built in 1871 for a prominent local lawyer, it is a fine example of Second Empire architecture, and a rare surviving domestically scaled building in an area now primarily filled with larger commercial buildings. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Broad Brook Company United States historic place

The Broad Brook Company was a manufacturer of textiles in East Windsor, Connecticut, which operated from the 1830s until 1954. The company plant, located on Broad Brook at Main Street and Scott Road in the town's Broad Brook village, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Partially destroyed by fire, with surviving buildings converted into residential condominiums in the 1980s, the complex has been shuttered due to the discovery of toxic soil conditions on the property.

North Milford Village Historic District United States historic place

The North Milford Village Historic District is a historic district located in Milford, Michigan, including the commercial area along Main Street from the Huron River to Summit, industrial areas around the mill ponds west of Main, and residential areas east of Main. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Chester Liebs (1978). "NRHP nomination for Joshua Twing Gristmill". National Park Service . Retrieved 2016-11-17. with photos from 1978