Sampsell's Mill - Now Penns Creek Pottery

Sampsel’s Mill was built in 1818 by Peter Kuhns,  and it ran on water-power until it closed in 1951.

Census records show that in 1850 the mill contained four pairs of grinding stones.  Flour was measured in barrels, and the millwright earned $1 a day. The mill occasionally had to shut down for ice or high or low water.

The front part of the house next to the mill is part of the original log home.  Originally there as no access between the two upstairs portions of the house.  Customers could bring their grain to the mill, often traveling so far that it was necessary to spend the night.  The milling family stayed in one side of the house, customers could spend the night in the other side.

Arvilla Campbell Arnold, whose father owned Cambells Mills in Lewisburg, fell in the millrace at Sampsells mill when she was 2 years old.  A mill worker jumped into the water and rescued her.

The Selinsgrove Times, 1916

James W. Sampsel was the son of the early mill owners.  He was asthmatic and could now work in the mill.   He became a teacher at the Herman School. After his wife died, he went on to Jefferson medical school where he became a doctor, and then a representative in the state assembly. After his fathers death, he continued to oversee the mill operations, hiring millers to run it for him.

Dr Sampsell sold the mill to Mifflinburg Milling Company in 1929, just before the stock market crashed. When the company went broke, he purchased the mill back and held it until his death in 1934.  It was operated by Bowersox and sons until 1951.

In a 1947 article for the Selinsgrove Times, Agnes Schoch wrote a description of the area:

"The Showers store is on what is now called the lower street. Before the new highway and bridge, spanning Penn's Creek, were built just prior to World War II, the lower street was the main highway. Along that street are all the  places of business. In the old days one  traveled the lower street, drove up the  little hill to the cemetery, turned down the hill to the Sampsell farm lor the Thanksgiving Day turkey, and thence by the old spring to the rickety iron bridge across Penn's Creek. From the old bridge one had a view up Penn's Creek, past the Sampsell Mill, across the old dam, to the cottages nestling in the pine woods along the creek. Looking down the creek one saw more cottages and a bend in the stream with farm lands reaching to the very shore line. It was a nice lazy ride over dirt roads. Today one speeds over blacktop, crossing the creek on a high iron and cement bridge that defies spring floods and travels on to Mifflinburg on a road as straight as the proverbial crow flies." Aug 21, 1947

After sitting empty for a few years, the property was purchased by the Lynch family, who cleaned it top to bottom and moved their pottery shop in in 1990.

This was one of our stops on the UCHS & SPOOM water powered mills bus tour.

At this stop, not only did we get to see all of the mill related items on display here, but we also viewed a short documentary made by Bucknell.

 

When Dinges Mill in Coburn was being demolished, the Lynches purchased the entire milling set up.  Its essentially the same equipment that would have been used in the Sampsell mill, and it also had been made by the Sprout- Waldron company of muncy.

 

One of the depression era feed sacks.  Women used these bags to make dresses, curtains, table cloths, quilts, and more

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Where The Mills Once Stood - An Index
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On September 15th 1921 the Selinsgrove Times reported that "youthful Gordon Klinger" caught two large bass at Sampsell's mill.  One was 13.5 inches long, and the other 12.5 inches long.

Mill sold at Sheriffs Sale

Snyder County Times July 21 1932

Sale Date: Saturday July 16 1932