Roxbury Mill is a historic flour and grist mill located in Glenwood, Howard County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, now part of the Howard County Farm Museum. Oliver Evans - Automated mill

The Roxbury Mill is located next to the Catt Tale (Cat Tail) river and with construction starting in 1753 by Capt. Philemon Dorsey Richard and John Dorsey settled plantations near the site in 1776. The -story stone mill with cellar was completed after 1791. It used an

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 building steam engines and an advoca ...

licensed automated milling process that cost $20 at the time. Samuel Thomas paid $800 damages to Evans in April 1818 for using the technology without a license. In 1850, the mill owned by Allen Bowie Davis was in full production with two employees and one packer producing 125,000 lb of meal and 25,000 lb chop flour on three wheels. The Dorsey family sent slaves from Roxbury Mills in their place during the Civil War Draft. In 1874 it was sold to George Peddicord. A waterwheel and gears made of steel replaced the wood construction in 1917. Ray Higgins and later owner Ray Smallwood Sr. ( -1958) operated bootleg distilleries at the mill and Miller's house from the 1920s to 1950s that were raided at least once. The mill remained in operation until 1962. The mill was stabilized with a metal roof, but fell into a period of purposeful neglect with mill race and roof damage following the 1972

Hurricane Agnes Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was the 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, from the Caribbean to Canada, ...

hurricane. The widow Irene Smallwood felt that donating the property to the Maryland Historical Society would not raise enough money and resold the property before her death in 1992. The Grover family pursued county funds to restore the building, but were ordered by the county in 1993 to stabilize the structure or tear it down. In 2002, the mill was dismantled "due to safety issues and concerns about vandalism". The property was subdivided to 1 acre. The foundation was left onsite, with components shipped to the Howard County Antique Farm Machinery Club for reassembly which has not been started. A store was built next to the mill in 1825 operated by J.D. Matthews. The Roxbury Mills Miller's House sits diagonally across from the original mill site on a 7-acre site that was once part of the "Vanity Mount", "

Duvall's Range Located Glenwood in Howard County, Maryland, United States, Duvall's Range or the Steven Boone Dorsey House. Duvall's Range is a 708-acre land grant surveyed in 1672 sold by Mareen Duvall's brother John Duvall to John Dorsey in 1695. John Dorse ...

" and "Hard to get and Dear Paid for" land patents. The log core of the house was built prior 1820 with shingle siding and a L shaped addition and a wood framed barn-carriage house outbuilding. In 1929, the property was purchased by Raymond and Irene Small as the "Roxbury Farm" and was later reduced to 5 acres. The Wilson house dates to the same period as the Miller's House, once owned by

Allen Bowie Davis Allen Bowie Davis (1809–1889) was an American businessman. Davis was born in Montgomery County Maryland to Thomas Davis (1769–1833) and Elizabeth Bowie (1772–1840). His father participated in the Whiskey Rebellion and was the president of ...

. The house is built around a log cabin core that once was a slave quarters.

References

{{reflist Glenwood, Howard County, Maryland Howard County, Maryland landmarks Houses in Howard County, Maryland

See also

References