Durham Mill and Furnace is a historic

grist mill 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 ...

located in Durham Township in

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the List of counties in Pennsylvania, four ...

. The mill was built in 1820, on the foundations of Durham Furnace. The furnace was built in 1727 and remained in operation for 70 years. The furnace produced pig and bar iron and during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

cannons, ballshot, and other military equipment. One of its managers was Col. George Taylor (c. 1716–1781), a signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

. The mill building is a three-story, stone structure with the overshot wheel located inside. Attached to it is a large, brick gambrel roofed

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

added in 1912. At that time, the

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

opened at the mill, the second oldest post office in the United States; the Durham Post Office was founded in 1723. The furnace was owned by George P. Whitaker and

Joseph Whitaker Joseph Whitaker may refer to: *Joseph Whitaker (industrialist) (1789–1870), American iron master and landowner * Joseph Whitaker (naturalist) (1850–1932), English naturalist *Joseph Whitaker (ornithologist) Joseph Isaac Spadafora Whitaker ( ...

in the mid 19th-century. The mill was owned by Congressman

Reuben Knecht Bachman Reuben Knecht Bachman (August 6, 1834 – September 19, 1911) was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Reuben K. Bachman was born in Williams Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania. He attended t ...

(1834–1911) in the late-19th and early-20th century. The mill remained in commercial operation until 1967. ''Note:'' This includes 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 ...

in 1976. See Benjamin F. Fackenthal, The Durham Iron Works: Durham Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania read at a meeting of the Friends Historical Association of Philadelphia, 10 June 1922 (Holicong, PA: Buckingham Friends Meeting House, 1937).

Gallery

File:Durham Mill PA 02.JPG, Durham Mill, side view File:Durham Mill PA 03.JPG, Durham Mill, main door. File:Durham Boat PA 01.JPG, Durham Boat. File:Durham Boat PA 02.JPG, Durham Boat, rear view.

References

External links

Grist Mill History
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Grinding mills on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Industrial buildings completed in 1820 Grinding mills in Bucks County, Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Bucks County, Pennsylvania