Smith / Stokes / Book's Mill
Perry Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Watersource: Sherman Creek.
Smith / Stokes / Book's Mill
From US11 /US15 at Duncannon, take Pa 274 about 30 miles through Bloomfield and Loysville to Blain. At Blain, turn left on SR 3006/Manassas Road. Turn left on Mill Road and the mill is several hundred yards on the right.
Tax records in 1778 show that James Blaine was assessed for a log mill he had built on Sherman Creek, just south of the present town of Blain.
James Blaine was the father of Ephriam Blaime, a Commissary General in the Revolutionary War.
About 1857, the present four story stone & frame mill was built by Isaac Stokes, who incorporated some new machinery and processes.
The mill was changed to a roller flour mill with four stands of rollers by William Book in 1905. In 1929, more improvements were made by owner Gard Smith, who switched the buhr stones for a hammer mill.
Sometime before he died in 1950, Smith installed a Howe turbine and used a diesel engine as supplementary power.
Frank & Robert, sons of Gard, took over operation after the elder's death. Frank & Florence continued the running of the mill, installing electric motors in the then feed & grain mill. The mill closed sometime after 1978.