The Mill at Crosswicks

This is the mill at Crosswicks, New Jersey, The mill was powered by the Crosswicks Creek, There is no sign of a Water Wheel or the type of Mill Race that would power and external wheel, by these deductions I presume the mill was driven by a water turbine.

These arches not only were the support of the mill they were the out flow of the water that powered the mill.

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I have searched for the exact date of the first mill on the Crosswicks Creek at Crosswicks, but could not locate one. The best I could come up with were references to a mill at Crosswicks in the late 1700’s. The dam at Crosswicks is registered with the State of NJ Historical Society Historic Register as “The Old Eagle Dam”, this and the present foundation of the mill are registered as one of the oldest in the state.
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The Crosswicks Creek has powered several mills and contributed to the growth of several towns along its path, Timmins Mill, Ocean County, the former name of New Egypt, which just happens to be the approximate Geographical Center of New Jersey, Waln’s Mill, in Walnford, Monmouth County, The mill there built in the 1800’s, The mansion 1774. The Mill at Crosswicks and the mills at Groveville, Mercer County, all of these mills were Grist Mills, with the exception of the mills at Groveville.

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The Crosswicks Creek was a hub of transportation from Groveville, South. With Ships picking up and delivering goods to the mills at Groveville and the docks of Houston and Green in Yardville, connecting these companies with Philadelphia, via the Delaware River and New York and north via the Delaware - Raritan Canal.

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There were also Grist Mills that dotted the area along Doctors Creek, one at Grovevlle and also a Saw Mill, two at Allentown, and one at Imlaystown. Marlene Donnell mentioned that there was also a prominent mill in Cream Ridge on the Miry Run. The Miry Run was a branch of the Crosswicks Creek, just up stream from Walnford and Waln's Mill. The mill was originally owned by Judge Lawrence. Joseph Holmes purchased it in 1873 and sold it the next year. He again purchased it and it remained part of the farm for almost a century. The mill was a red 5 story clapboard structure. Farms brought grain to the mill to be ground. The building was torn down in the early 40's. The feed house and millers home are still on Holmes Mill Rd. The milling stone remained on the property for many years. During the restoration of Walns Mill, the stone was transported to that mill, where it remains today.

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I was fortunate to have the last owner of the Mill at Crosswicks find my web site and contact me. His story was very interesting; the photos he sent me were great.
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What I have found is that the Mill at Crosswicks was originally built as a Grist Mill, at the time this area of New Jersey; Monmouth, Burlington, and Mercer County, were large producers of grains. Like any good business they must produce year round, when the Mill Ponds froze and there was no flowing water to run the mills, without the possible damage to the mechanism of the wheel, they cut ice from the pond and stored it and sold it for use in the summer, this was the case with the Crosswicks Mill.
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A separate building was constructed to store ice. The ice in the pond was cut into “Cakes”. “Cakes” were more or less standard size, 22 inches by 12 inches, weighing about a hundred pounds. After the cakes were cut, they were poled through the water to shore. Here a long plank sloped into the water; the trick was to give the cake of ice enough momentum so that its weight would carry it up where someone with a pair of tongs could snag it..... The ice was hauled to the ice house on two-horse bobsleds. Layer by layer the ice house was filled. A sprinkling of dry sawdust was scattered between each layer of cakes. This made them easier to separate when they were taken out. A two-foot-wide layer of sawdust was tamped lightly between the ice and sides of the building. After the last layer was pushed up the long, oak plank, the whole heap was covered a yard deep with sawdust.
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If a family were cutting ice for personal use it took an average of three hundred cakes to last a family through the summer.

Harvesting the Ice from the Mill Pond

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As time changed the growing of grains diminished as farms changed to growing vegetables and dairy, lessening the need for Grist Mills, but with the invention of equipment to commercially produce Ice, the entire facility was changed from a Grist Mill to an Ice House, manufacturing Ice and a Cold Storage facility
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The facility changed hands over the years, in 1920 the new ice producing equipment was installed and Ice was sold to many commercial companies in the area including the Hildebrecht Ice Cream Company, of Trenton. At this time in the 1920’s it was owned by Charles W. Brick, Also during this period a large fire destroyed a large portion of the original mill.
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The last owner purchased the mill and the entire 22 acre parcel of land in the 1980’s, with the hopes of continuing the manufacture of ice, restoring the buildings and the dam to their original condition. The plan was to produce Hydro Electric power; “Old Eagle Dam” had been registered as a utility company, to power the Mill Facilities and the surrounding community with electric power. Due to government restraints as to what could and could not be done with the structures, as time passed the building fell in to such disrepair that they were not able to be restored and had to be demolished. This was a great loss not only to the owner, but the community and the history of the community.

The Dam at Crosswicks, forming the Crosswicks Mill Pond

These two boys are fishing at the entrance to the Mill Race. The Race is to the left. The walk-way is to allow the cleaning of the wooden screen that blocks debris from entering the Race and damaging the Wheel or Turbine.



The Dam at Crosswicks, registered with the State Of New Jersey as "The Old Eagle Dam".




Everyone benefited by the pond, even the livestock.







The interior of the mill.





The Mill, the Ice House, and the Cold Storage Facility

Work being done on the restoration.

The Cold Storage Facility.

Groveville's Water Supply

This is a photo, taken in 1947, this is Gary Lippincott (me) and my cousin and next door neighbor, Janice Rollings. This photo was taken in front of the water tower belonging to the Groveville Water Company, operated by George Rollings, Janice's Grandfather, Gary's Great grandfather, this was Groveville's water supply.

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The tower was located at the top of the hill at the edge of the woods across from the Groveville Elementary School, behind the Rollings home, which is no longer there.

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The four concrete pillars that supported the tower are still there on the property now owned by Chuck and Joann Elliott and located next to their house.

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My mother has told me the switch that controlled the pump that filled the tower was located in the Rollings house cellar. The pump would be turned on and allowed to fill the tower, there was no automatic switch. When the tower was full, someone would yell "The Tower is Full" as the water tower overflowed. Someone, would run to the cellar and pull the switch. Mom said not only was the cellar of the house "Scary", long, dark, & narrow, like a tunnel, but the switch you had to throw was a "Knife" Switch, she said like the kind in the horror movies, and when you threw the switch big sparks came from the switch.

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The tower, the pump, and the pump house were removed in the 1950's by Bob Heaton, long time Groveville resident, Groveville Fire Company member, who's business was tearing down buildings and salvage.

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The concrete reservoir still remains at the base of the hill on the edge of the swamp, still filled with water, the roof over the reservoir and the long wooden steps that extended from the base of the tower, down into the woods to the Reservoir and pump house are long gone also.

Groveville, from "The History of Mercer County".

This is not my writting, this is from the "History of Mercer County, I want that understood, I don't want that "Plagiarism" thing raising it's ugly head again, like it did in Mr. VanAllen's 11th Grade History Class, HHS, how was I to know that someone had writen about the "Civl War" before me, using those same words, earned me a failing grade for that "Mistake" . ;-)

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History of Mercer County

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GROVEVILLE. - Settlements were made at a comparatively early date south of Doctor's Creek, about half a mile from the central portion of Yardville. This place is now known as Groveville. In 1821 there were here a small woolen- and grist-mill, a saw-mill, and a store, all the property of John Longstreet, and fifteen dwellings.

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At the date mentioned George S. Green and Churchill Houston purchased of Longstreet all of this hamlet except two or three houses, and built new manufacturing establishments elsewhere referred to, and the place entered upon an era of growth.

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The hotel here has been kept open most of the time for many years. The present occupant is Mrs. Elizabeth Allen.

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There are two stores in the village, which were formerly kept by the successive proprietors of the mills. The merchants at this time are E. A. Beaumont and Randolph Rider.

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The first blacksmith was William Chitty, who opened his shop about 1845. He had several successors, the last of whom was John Gamble, who, in company with William Gamble, manufactured augers about two years.

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Groveville consists of two stores, a hotel, a school-house, a warp-factory, a Methodist Episcopal Church, and sixty dwellings, a good share of the population depending on the manufactory mentioned for employment.

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Educational. - The history of the public schools of Hamilton does not differ materially from that of other townships in New Jersey similarly circumstanced. The early schools were select schools, kept in log houses. These were followed by pay schools, very little different in organization or operation, in houses which were no great improvement on the first ones.

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The public school law of the State brought about a systematization of the educational facilities of the township, and school districts were formed, and one after another better school-houses were built. There are now nine school districts, known as Washington District, No. 26; Mercerville District, No. 27; Hamilton Square District, No. 28; Edge Brook District, No. 29; Groveville District, No. 30; Yardville District, No. 31; White Horse District, No. 32; Friendship District, No. 33; and Farmingdale District, No. 35.

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In 1880 the school statistics of Hamilton were as follows:
Amount of appropriation from the State fund, $2950.27; total amount received from all sources for school purposes, $3025.27; value of school property, $9650; number of children of the school age, 817; number enrolled in the school registers, 540; estimated number who attended private schools, 57; estimated number who attended no school, 248; number of teachers employed, three males, seven females, average monthly salary, males, $36.60, females, $29.77.