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 Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

located in Durham Township in

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the Englis ...

. 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 was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

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 or declaration of statehood or proclamation 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 ...

. The mill building is a three-story, stone structure with the

overshot wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucket ...

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 outskirts of cities ...

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 letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

opened at the mill, the second oldest post office in the United States; the Durham Post Office was founded in 1723. 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 ...

(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 United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

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