Shwenk's Mill / Morris Run Mill / Seibel's-Seiple's-Siple's Grist Mill
Bucks Co. | Pennsylvania | USA
Watersource: Morris Run trib. E.Br. Perkiomen Cr.
Shwenk's Mill / Morris Run Mill / Seibel's-Seiple's-Siple's Grist Mill
Exit I-476 at exit 44/Milford Square-Quakertown exit. Take Pa 663/ Joihn Fries Highway east through Milford Square to Quakertown. Cross over Pa 309, then the road becomes Pa 313/W Broad St., then E Broad St., then Doylestown Pike, finally becoming Dublin Pike. Continue on Dublin Pike southbound, traveling past Pa 563/N Ridge Road, N 5th Street, and Branch Road, finally angling right into Minsi Trail. Continue past Blue School Road on Minsi Trail and turn a sharp right onto Shwenkmill Road about 1/4th mile short of arriving at Pa 113/Souderton Road. The mill sits behind the first farm on the left on Shwenkmill Road.
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The mill was used as a residence in 1982, and has since been improved upon, but no pics available of this. The size is about 55'x 35'. Most or all of the stucco has been removed and the grounds manicured.
Photo taken first month of 2020 to show some restoration underway. Ivy cleaned off, doors and windows refreshed, etc.
The mill is situated on part of a 1728 John Penn land grant. John Penn was a son of William Penn, the founder of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. GPS: 40’ 22.66N, 75’ 14.31W 377’/115 meters Reading Quadrangle
The Pennridge website (click above top photo) shows a photo of a rusted penstock entering the near arch with the flattened concrete section below the stones of the arch. This would have been the supply from Morris Run. The other arches were for water exit from the mill.
Originally known as Siples Mill or Yost Mill, it later was known as Morris Run Mill and in 1906, Jacob Schwenk was the proprietor and it was Morris Run Mill. Later the name became Schwenk Mill after Jacob Schwenk's operation.
A fair sized mill of 3 stories constructed of fieldstone in a Gothic style of architecture. The mill doors are each similar to French doors with a large Gothic peak containing the bag hoist apparatus. Ivy crawling up the walls, and the surrounding weeds and grasses fast changing to woodland, doesn't bode well for this relic of early industrial Hilltown Township.