The Pottstown Roller Mill is an historic, American

roller mill Roller mills are mills that use cylindrical rollers, either in opposing pairs or against flat plates, to crush or grind various materials, such as grain, ore, gravel, plastic, and others. Roller grain mills are an alternative to traditional ...

that is located near the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map(). accessed April 1, 2011. from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville ...

in Pottstown,

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County, colloquially referred to as Montco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 856,553, making it the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania after Philadel ...

. 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 1974.

History and architectural features

The original mill building was built in 1725. It was constructed of

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

and was two stories tall, three bays wide, and two deep. It provided flour to

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

during the Revolutionary War. The mill's structure was improved in 1849 and again in 1856 when two brick stories were added to the original fieldstone building. The five-bay brick addition doubled the size of the 1856 mill. It then became "the roller mill of Jesse Ives ... that provided shelter for escaping slaves" as part of the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was an organized network of secret routes and safe houses used by freedom seekers to escape to the abolitionist Northern United States and Eastern Canada. Enslaved Africans and African Americans escaped from slavery ...

. This property also includes a contributing dam and

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 ...

. ''Note:'' This includes It faced extensive flooding due to

Hurricane Agnes Hurricane Agnes was the List of costliest Atlantic hurricanes, costliest hurricane to hit the United States at the time, causing an estimated $2.1 billion in damage. The hurricane's death toll was 128. The effects of Agnes were widespread, ...

in 1972 but served the community continuously despite major damages. Although the mill no longer sold flour, "a post-Revolutionary War era water wheel turned by a race stream siphoned from the Manatawny still provide most of the power to operate the mill." Added to the

in 1974, th
Pottstown Roller Mills, Inc.
survives today at 625 Industrial Highway, less than a mile from the original historic building.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Grinding mills on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Industrial buildings completed in 1725 Buildings and structures in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Rolling mills Pottstown, Pennsylvania