Nathan Cooper Gristmill | |
Location | 66
NJ Route 24 Chester Township, New Jersey |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°46′44″N 74°43′16″W / 40.77889°N 74.72111°W |
Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
Built | 1826 |
NRHP reference No. | 76001174 [1] |
NJRHP No. | 2101 [2] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | November 21, 1976 |
Designated NJRHP | November 25, 1975 |
The Nathan Cooper Gristmill is a historic gristmill on the Black River located at 66 NJ Route 24 in Chester Township, Morris County, New Jersey. [3] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 1976 for its significance in industry. [4]
Since 1973, the Morris County Park Commission has owned and operated the mill and its 14 surrounding acres as a historic site. [3]
Circa the 1760s, county judge Isaiah Younglove [5] constructed a no-longer-extant mill on the Black River. [6] Younglove's mill began flour milling production on the site. Images of America: Chester claims Younglove's mill burned down in an unspecified year, [5] while the Morris County Park Commission describes his endeavor as having shut down in 1788. [3] The mill then went through several owners before 1825. The last owner prior to the Coopers was Elias Howell. [7]
In 1825, retired general Nathan Cooper (1751–1834) purchased the 4.5 acres of land for $750. [3] [8] This included "a milldam, sawmill, an old gristmill, and [a wooden] water wheel." [9] This was an addition to his wealth, as he too had the ownership of over 1600 acres of land [10] including multiple mines under Cooper, Hewitt, & Co. [11]
The following year, Cooper rebuilt the mill, constructing a four-story random fieldstone gristmill to replace the 1760s structure. [3] [9] [12] The new building employed the use of "four sets of millstones connected by elevators to grain cleaners and flour sifters." These incorporated the designs of American inventor Oliver Evans. [13] The mill could grind up to 10 tons per day of wheat, corn, and other grains. [3] Also in 1826, Nathan Cooper gave the property to his adult nephew, Nathan A. Cooper, who had become a NJ cavalry general 2 years before. [9]
In 1827 and 1829, Nathan Cooper "raised the height of the dam as it stood." [8]
Nathan A. Cooper commissioned a house to be constructed nearby for his son, Abram W. Cooper (1848–1933) as a wedding present. [14] [9]
In the 1870s, the Coopers installed modern turbines to replace the original wooden waterwheels. [3]
Upon Nathan A. Cooper's 1879 death, Abram W. Cooper (one of his nine children) inherited ownership of the mill. [9] Abram W. Cooper was described contemporaneously as a man whose "life had been quiet and uneventful, but upright and honorable...devoted to his business interests and the requirements of citizenship." [15]
Later, Nathan A. Cooper (1802–1879) inherited this mill when his uncle Nathan died. [16]
In the 1880s, Milltown experienced bustling economic success, and the Cooper mill "played a key role in the community and the region's industrial development." The mill shared Main Street with "a blacksmith shop, a general store, a tavern...and the Mountain Spring Distillery, a cider mill." The Coopers used their growing wealth to build family mansions in nearby Chester. [17]
The mill continued to grind grain into flour until 1913. [9]
On January 31, 1913, the Milltown general store across the street burned down in a fire. The same year, the mill ceased to operate. [9] In an unknown year, the Old Mill Tavern pub was built atop the site of the Milltown general store. [5]
In 1973, the Morris County Park Commission acquired the mill. [3] After the acquisition, the mill was restored [12] and Abram Cooper's home was converted into a Visitors' Center. [9] The site opened to the public in October 1978. [3] Visitors of the mill museum take home "stone-ground flour and cornmeal produced at the Gristmill." [3]
After its acquisition in 1973, the Morris County Park Commission converted the Abram Cooper home into a Visitors' Center. [9] The mill has since been kept in operating condition, being preserved as it was in the 1880s "with some updates" including the addition of electricity and a new water wheel. [6] Its current wheel is an "all-steel-Fitz Company waterwheel" [3] from 1927. [6]
During Hurricane Irene in 2011, multiple local rivers flooded including the Black River. However, the mill was left undamaged due to its strategic elevated placement to avoid flooding, a feature of most historic mills. [6]
In 2010, it was New Jersey's only restored water-powered mill. [18] This claim was falsified by the 2020 restoration of the Red Mill in Clinton, New Jersey. [19]
The Friends of Fosterfields and Cooper Gristmill, a non-profit organization, contributes money and expertise to run the mill. [20] It is open April through October and offers several educational programs and summer camps. [6]