Rowlandsville Grist / Roman & Christie Roller Mill-Site
Cecil Co. | Maryland | USA
Watersource: Basin Run/Octoraro Creek.
Rowlandsville Grist / Roman & Christie Roller Mill-Site
The mill is located in Cecil Co., in the village of Rowlandsville, between McCauley Rd. and the Octoraro Creek confluence with Basin Creek, just north of the intersection with Basin Run Road.
Rowlandsville Grist/Roller Mill in the westernmost part of Rising Sun District of Cecil County, Md. The mill was also known as Davis Mill, Roland Mill, & Christie Mill. An 1858 map of the Rising Sun Dist. of Cecil Co. shows a building next to the mill as owned by Roman & Christie.
There remains one set of stones with associated machinery. The set of stone has a chair and hopper that appear to be original.
A 1979 survey said that the Rowlandsville mill had suffered substantial deterioration due to the collapse of the two story stone foundation wall on the south end.
The wall along the millrace has completely fallen in, except at the corners. The interior of the mill and some machinery are still exposed in 2007.
The photo also shows a roller mill,somewhat rusty, in the upper left on the sagging story.
Total height for the mill is 4.5 stories, two of which are stone. *Update: My great grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Devonshire, ran the mill in Rowlandsville for many years. He was one of 13 siblings and they were running out of names - the last brother was Delmar - the Conowingo Creek being near the Maryland-Delaware border. I last visited the mill with my uncle in 1990, at which time the foundation wall was quite restorable. It looks pretty bad now. One of my relatives said that at that time, the mill was owned by the state of Maryland. Mike Devonshire 02/06/2009*
This view shows the mill from across the Octoraro Creek on Rowlandsville Road/Sh 338. A 1880 manufacturing census listed the Davis & Christie Mill having assets of $15,000 and an annual production valued at $17,000. A 60 foot fall of water on Basin Run powered three sets of stones via two turbines. Forty-four horsepower from the turbines spinning at 280 RPM succeeded in grinding grain into approximately 1,950 barrels of flour/year. The mill did 25% custom grinding and 75% merchant work.
The mill upper structure has either collapsed or been torn down in the two years since the other photos were taken. *Update: The mill finally collaped on its own. Luke Osborne 03/16/2011*