A piece of history unearthed in Wilmington

A SECTION of stone believed to be part of an original mill stone used by city founder Thomas Cox is removed from an exposed stone wall near the mill race. Workers had to prop up the wall with beams in order to remove the mill stone without it collapsing. Photo provided.

A MILLSTONE removed from a gristmill elsewhere in the U.S. shows how they were assembled using an iron band. Photo provided.

By: 
STAFF REPORT

A small piece of history was unearthed this month by members of the Wilmington Historical Society.

Last week, Bill Weidling with the WHS dug out what is believed to be an original mill stone from the spillway in Wilmington, one used by city founder Thomas Cox.

In 1838, Thomas Cox, Joseph Cox and Albert W. Bowen constructed a three foot high dam across the river, on the west side of the island where the current dam now sits.

Like other dams built during that time, the dam was constructed to force water down the east branch of the Spillway to provide water power.

Thomas Cox built a gristmill and carding machine in 1839 near the bridge over the mill race.

Dr. Bowen constructed a flour mill further down the east branch in 1839 also, consisting of six run stones producing 500 barrels of flour a day. That mill eventually went idle by the early 1870s, but was still utilized for storage.

The Spillway was constructed out of rubble stone around 1870.

It was from the Spillway where the mill stone was recovered, located near the bottom center of the wall of rubble stone.

The other flour mill was later built by the bridge over the mill race, where Thomas Cox had built his gristmill in 1839, by McIntyre and Whitten, and was named the White Cloud Mill. This mill was built sometime between late 1840s to 1850s, after the removal of Thomas Cox’s mill.

“This is why I believe the found millstone is from our town’s founder Thomas Cox’s mill,” Weidling explained. “The millstone is of a design and type called French buhr and comes from the Marne Valley in northern France. The quarry was located in the area of La Ferete-sous-Jouarre.”

La Ferete-sous-Jouarre was once known for the world’s best millstones, but by the late 1700s, the quarry was depleted. Weidling said they then shaped and dressed pieces of this rare and valuable stone into one millstone by banding it with a iron ring — the type that was found last week.

“The American Colonial cities and towns, imported them due to the quality,” Weidling noted.

The stone is a type of siliceous rock called burrstone, which has an open texture and is a porous but tough fine grained sandstone or a silicified, fossiliferous limestone.

French millstones made a superior wheat product due to the stone’s hardness and it's ability to grind a much whiter flour.

The newly discovered millstone was taken to the Historical Society museum for display.