Lake Mill / Groff's Mill
Lancaster Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Watersource: Little Conestoga Creek.
Lake Mill / Groff's Mill
Located 1.8 miles west of Pa 741 at Millersville on Pa 999. A right turn onto dead end Old Blue Rock Road prior to crossing the Little Conestoga Cr. puts the mill hunter at the mill at the end of the o.2 mile road.
View Larger Map
The 40'X 60' limestone mill structure rises 3.5 stories plus attic above the ground level. A concrete addition 3 stories tall measures about 20'X 20'. The main building has a clerestory running the full length, a smaller connected clerestory runs at right angles to the main clerestory and continues over the top of the addition, creating an open space under part of the clerestoy.
A fire in 1830 resulted in a new mill built in 1831 by the then owners, Benjamin & Mary Herr, to the present dimensions. E. Hershey ran the mill around 1864; then in 1869, it was Isaac Groff's Mill and continued as such into the late 19th century, taking on the name of Groff's Mill. *Update: I want to thank you for your pictures and history cataloged on the Lake Mill/Groff's Mill in Manor township Millersville Pa. My great grandfather, John R. Frantz, owned and operated that mill in the late 1800's until the 1930s. We visited it recently and used your information as a way to learn more about it. Thanks! Diane Hazum 05/16/2012*
A photo from the 1950's shows the mill was a flour and feed mill run by Miller & Bushong. The vintage photo taken by Elizabeth Schreiner, used with permission by Robert G. Neuhauser.GPS: 40' 0.49N, 76' 22.5W 276'/84 meters Harrisburg Quadrangle
Henry Funk owned the first mill from 1771 until he sold to Daniel Lindner in 1781. Benjamin Herr bought the 36'X 48' first mill in 1807 and willed it, in 1825, to his daughter Elizabeth, who was married to Ephrim Hershey.
An old crumbling stone arch bridge used to cross the creek near the mill, looking across the old bridge, then Old Blue Rock Road used to cross over Ironstone Ridge Road/Ironstone Bridge Road and connect back onto Pa 999 after 0.7 miles. The new Pa 999 eliminated the necessity to replace the old bridge and it was allowed to crumble away without hardly a trace.
The mill was powered from water dammed up on the nearby creek, the Little Conestoga Cr., having only to drop 2' in a 250' headrace and exit using a 100' tailrace.
The former flour mill/grist mill was a restaurant in 1964, unused in 1992 and still vacant in 2004. Production was about 75 barrels/day for the flour mill.
The mill was purchased by Don and Laura Dombach in November 2012. Extensive structural and roof repairs were completed as several decades of neglect had the mill in poor condition. The granary was stuccoed to cover the decaying concrete and the porch was repaired.