July 20, 2006

By Lauren Heaton

Time gets all discombobulated when one passes by the Grinnell Mill these days. The shiny new roof and fresh red paint bring back images of the mill from 100 years ago. And yet it was just two years ago that the windows were broken in, the roof was caving and the wood and limestone foundation was rotting into the Little Miami River swishing by not 50 yards from its seat.

Thanks to local resident Jim Hammond, who has led the three-year rehabilitation of the historic structure, this old grist mill has a new lease on life, and the community has a second chance to care for it and honor it as an architectural relic and a tribute to the area’s milling history.

Hammond is putting the finishing touches on the mill that he and many other local and area residents have helped refurbish. According to Miami Township Trustee Chris Mucher, Hammond plans to be done with construction in the fall, at which point the trustees, who own the building, and the community will decide the future use of the mill. The trustees and the Yellow Springs Historical Society invite the public to the first floor of the mill on Sunday, July 23, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. to begin discussing what the renewed facility is to become.

Historical Society member Dave Neuhardt will give an introduction on the mill and its place in local history. Mucher will follow with a presentation on the state of the mill and its current features and what it will take to maintain the structure into the future. Local moderater Fred Bartenstein will guide two discussions on how the mill should be used and who will be on the committee to manage it.

During past meetings, the community has imagined many uses for the mill, including a space for conferences, retreats, receptions or public meetings, a short-term rooming house and a bed and breakfast. But the requisite condition on which any plan will rest, Mucher said, is that the building must pay for its own maintenance.

Though the Township owns the property, having purchased the building and its lot from Antioch College for $1 in 2004, the trustees never intended to pay for its upkeep. They established a foundation made up of three managing partners, one trustee, and a representative from the Historical Society and the Glen Helen Ecology Institute, who would oversee its maintenance when Hammond was finished with construction.

According to rough estimates, Mucher expects the mill’s yearly insurance and utility costs will total $6,500.

Hammond began work on the mill in early 2004 and has since given an untold amount of financial support and labor to its rehabilitation, Mucher said. He began by rebuilding the foundation and post and beam frame and then went on to fill in the old mill race and work on replacing the walls, windows and doors with three-layer insulated panels.

This year he installed an insulated metal roof, a new 1-inch thick white oak floor on the first level, and built a leech field and sewer and water lines to serve the second-floor bathrooms and potential living quarters. Hammond has also replaced the large shed that was removed from the side of the building in the 1970s, Mucher said.

While the trustees have spent a little over $25,000 and individual donors have given $5,000 in doors, windows and miscelaneous contributions, according to Mucher, the Drierite company and the Hammond family have donated over $100,000 toward the project, not including Drierite employee Steve May, who has worked on the project nearly full-time during the fair weather months for the past two years.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com