Volant Mill / J.P. Locke Mill
Lawrence Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Watersource: Great Neshannock Creek.
Volant Mill / J.P. Locke Mill
From the center of New Castle, Pa. near US 422, follow Sh 168 for about 12 miles north, turning left onto Sh 208 about 1 mile east of the town of Volant. Go about 0.5 miles to the Neshannock Cr. and the mill.
The first mill or possibly second mill was built in 1812 and owned and operated by Thomas Barber in 1815. Barber had a mulatto miller working for him by the name of Vincent Proctor. Vincent was a very good miller and brought much success to the Barber Mill. The earlier mill of 1812 was bought from Samuel Bowden by J.P. Locke in 1868 along with 100 acres of ground. Locke developed that 100 acres into 30 building lots, the beginning of Lockeville. With the mill, the building of the New Castle Franklin Railroad in 1873, and the completion of a covered bridge over the Neshannock Creek in 1875, the community was spurred on to new growth.
The community was incorporated in 1893 and the name changed from Lockeville to Volant--midway between Erie and Pittsburgh on Pa 208. The mill was sold to D.D. Simison's father, also operating the McConnell's Mill at the time, in 1879. D.D. Simison took the controls in April 1886, becoming one of the most profitable miller's in Lawrence County, if not all of western Pa. Simison flour was second to few and the buckwheat flour produced was top-notch.
The current mill is on the same foundation and contains some of the same timbers of the old Baber-Locke-Simison Mill. The roller process was introduced in the mid to late 1880's. The mill lost customers through the early 1900's as lumber became increasingly more fruitful than farming in the area, brought on by two world wars, wheat production and flour milling becoming centered in the upper Midwest, and the dying out of the family farms. The mill closed down in the early 1960's and but was renovated in 1984 into the current country gift and antique store.
Volant Mill decorated for the 2011 holiday season. Restoration work contines by the non-profit owners Volant DCD. Hoping to have the griding stones turning by 3.1.2012! 200th Anniversary celebrations scheduled for Sept., 2012! Photo by K. Rockenstein.
The 30' covered footbridge crosses the mill race by the mill on the north side of Sh 208 at the Neshannock Creek. The present water wheel is for asthetic purposes only. *Update: I visited the mill on 9/16/06 and they were celebrating the start of the making the Volant Mill a working mill again. Lisa Benz 09/16/2006*