Mills of Clifton

Milling is an important part of the history of Clifton and the surrounding area.  In the early 1800s, water power was essential and the thundering waters of the Little Miami River in Clifton Gorge attracted numerous entrepreneurs who established mills to serve the region.  During the 1800s of the more than 70 mills in Greene County, sixteen were located in the Clifton area.  Today Clifton Mill is the only one still in operation.

Around 1802 Owen Davis and his son-in-law, Benjamin Whiteman, built the first mills at Clifton.  They first created a log dam across the upper gorge and built a saw mill to provide lumber for further construction.  By 1803, they had built the original Clifton Mill, a tavern, a trading post, a distillery and several cabins.  During the War of 1812 Clifton Mill produced grain to feed the troops.  Nothing remains of the saw mill or the original grist mill Davis built.  The photos below are various stages of deterioration of the Saw Mill.  In italics below each photo is the inscription on the back.      

Back view

Front view

The photo at the right has writing on the front that says "Remains of Col. Robert Patterson's Mill and also of 1st saw mill on L. M. River east of Clifton bridge".  Patterson bought the mills from Owen Davis a few years after they were completed.

The inscription on the back of this photo, which is in italics at the right, is not historically correct.  The way it is written indicates Whiteman was the original owner, then Davis.  Owen Davis was the original owner of the mills.  Davis and Whiteman came here together, Davis was Whiteman's father-in-law.  Davis was a miller, Whiteman was Greene County Associate Judge.

Around 1805, down river from Clifton Mill, Col. Robert Patterson built a woolen mill that spanned the gorge like a bridge.  Patterson’s woolen mill employed as many as 80 workers before it was washed away in 1870.  During the War of 1812 Col. Patterson, a Quartermaster, operated his woolen mill day and night to produce cloth and buttons for the Army.  The cloth and buttons were transported to Dayton to be made into uniforms.  Today, from an overlook deck on a Clifton Gorge hiking trail, you can see the square holes that were cut into the limestone to anchor the mill.  The photo on the right shows post-flood remnants of the support structure and the dam, now completely gone.

Around 1814 Robert Moodie built a grist mill called Moodie's Mill.  The mill burned down in 1821  and the present building was built on the old foundation.  It was sold to Frank Grinnell in 1864 and became known as Spring Lea Mill.  The Grinnell family owned the mill for the next 84 years, until 1948.  Today the mill is known as Grinnell Mill.  Grinnell Mill was given to Antioch College and eventually deteriorated to the point of being a fire hazard.  In 2003 the Miami Twp. Fire Dept. ordered it to be fixed or demolished.  The college was financially unable to fix it as they had been unable to maintain it over the years.  Concerned area residents, Miami Township Trustees, Glen Helen Nature Preserve and the Yellow Springs Historical Society formed a group and made arrangements with the college to preserve the old treasure.  With donations of money, skilled workman and copious hours, today Grinnell Mill is looking very much as it did when first built. For more information visit www.miamitownship.net/mill.asp

Brewer’s Mill, further down river, was a grist mill which ceased operation in 1843.  It was located at the end of present-day Swimming Pool Rd. at the Boy Scout Camp.  The photo at the right is labeled "Mr. J. S. Saberton, the 'Master of Ferncliffe', viewing the valley of the Little Miami and the Brewer's Mill." It is from a stereopticon slide produced by Gano & Clark, date unknown.  Ferncliffe Farm is now part of Glen Helen Nature Preserve and John Bryan State Park.

In the early to mid 1800s the Hager Paper Mill was in operation further down the Little Miami River.  Straw was beaten by mallets, mixed with water and cooked in a steaming colander.  The odor was pungent, and the brown-colored, silt-laden water that was dumped from the mill into the Little Miami River killed most of the fish.  The mill’s remote location in the gorge created havoc for the mule teams that delivered supplies and hauled the finished product to the rail station at Yellow Springs.  The photos show the mill in different stages of decay.