The Nathan Cooper Gristmill is a historic

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

on the Black River located at 66 NJ Route 24 in Chester Township, Morris County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on November 21, 1976 for its significance in industry. With Since 1973, the Morris County Park Commission has owned and operated the mill and its 14 surrounding acres as a historic site.

History

18th century

Circa the 1760s, county judge Isaiah Younglove constructed a no-longer-extant mill on the Black River. Younglove's mill began flour milling production on the site. '' Images of America: Chester'' claims Younglove's mill burned down in an unspecified year, while the Morris County Park Commission describes his endeavor as having shut down in 1788. The mill then went through several owners before 1825. The last owner prior to the Coopers was Elias Howell.

19th century heyday

In 1825, retired general Nathan Cooper (1751–1834) purchased the 4.5 acres of land for $750. This included "a milldam, sawmill, an old gristmill, and woodenwater wheel." This was an addition to his wealth, as he too had the ownership of over 1600 acres of land including multiple mines under Cooper, Hewitt, & Co. The following year, Cooper rebuilt the mill, constructing a four-story random fieldstone gristmill to replace the 1760s structure. The new building employed the use of "four sets of

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, used for triturating, crushing or, more specifically, grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a s ...

s connected by

elevators An elevator (American English) or lift (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive tracti ...

to grain cleaners and flour sifters." These incorporated the designs of American inventor

Oliver Evans Oliver Evans (September 13, 1755 – April 15, 1819) was an American inventor, engineer, and businessman born in rural Delaware and later rooted commercially in Philadelphia. He was one of the first Americans to build steam engines and an advo ...

. The mill could grind up to 10 tons per day of wheat, corn, and other grains. Also in 1826, Nathan Cooper gave the property to his adult nephew, Nathan A. Cooper, who had become a NJ cavalry general 2 years before. In 1827 and 1829, Nathan Cooper "raised the height of the dam as it stood." Nathan A. Cooper commissioned a house to be constructed nearby for his son, Abram W. Cooper (1848–1933) as a wedding present. In the 1870s, the Coopers installed modern turbines to replace the original wooden waterwheels. Upon Nathan A. Cooper's 1879 death, Abram W. Cooper (one of his nine children) inherited ownership of the mill. Abram W. Cooper was described contemporaneously as a man whose "life had been quiet and uneventful, but upright and honorable...devoted to his business interests and the requirements of citizenship." Later, Nathan A. Cooper (1802–1879) inherited this mill when his uncle Nathan died. In the 1880s, Milltown experienced bustling economic success, and the Cooper mill "played a key role in the community and the region's industrial development." The mill shared Main Street with "a blacksmith shop, a general store, a tavern...and the Mountain Spring Distillery, a cider mill." The Coopers used their growing wealth to build family mansions in nearby

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

. The mill continued to grind grain into flour until 1913.

20th century

On January 31, 1913, the Milltown general store across the street burned down in a fire. The same year, the mill ceased to operate. In an unknown year, the Old Mill Tavern pub was built atop the site of the Milltown general store.

Museum conversion

In 1973, the Morris County Park Commission acquired the mill. After the acquisition, the mill was restored and Abram Cooper's home was converted into a Visitors' Center. The site opened to the public in October 1978. Visitors of the mill museum take home "stone-ground flour and cornmeal produced at the Gristmill." After its acquisition in 1973, the Morris County Park Commission converted the Abram Cooper home into a Visitors' Center. The mill has since been kept in operating condition, being preserved as it was in the 1880s "with some updates" including the addition of electricity and a new water wheel. Its current wheel is an "all-steel-Fitz Company waterwheel" from 1927. During

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth tropical cyclone naming, named storm, first hurricane, and first major ...

in 2011, multiple local rivers flooded including the Black River. However, the mill was left undamaged due to its strategic elevated placement to avoid flooding, a feature of most historic mills. In 2010, it was New Jersey's only restored water-powered mill. This claim was falsified by the 2020 restoration of the Red Mill in

Clinton, New Jersey Clinton is a town in Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located on the South Branch of the Raritan River in the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 2,773, an increase ...

. The Friends of Fosterfields and Cooper Gristmill, a non-profit organization, contributes money and expertise to run the mill. It is open April through October and offers several educational programs and summer camps.

Gallery

File:Cooper Grist Mill Water Wheel.jpg, Steel water wheel File:Nathan Cooper Gristmill, Chester Township, NJ - looking north.jpg, View along the

mill race A mill race, millrace or millrun, mill lade (Scotland) or mill leat (Southwest England) is the current of water that turns a water wheel, or the channel ( sluice) conducting water to or from a water wheel. Compared with the broad waters of a m ...

File:Cooper Mill.JPG, Morris County historical information File:Cooper Gristmill, Chester Township, NJ - visitor center.jpg, Visitors' center

References

External links

* * {{NRHP in Morris County, New Jersey Chester Township, New Jersey Industrial buildings completed in 1826 Buildings and structures in Morris County, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Morris County, New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places 1826 establishments in New Jersey Museums in Morris County, New Jersey Mill museums in the United States Grinding mills on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey