Baker Grist Mill Milton Pa

Baker’s Grist Mill - South Front Street Milton Pa

The name of Milton Pa derives from "Mill Town".  It gained this name from the grist mill built about 1792 near the mouth of Limestone Run.  The above picture was painted from a photograph made in the 'nineties - after steam power (note smokestack) had been added.  The mill survived Milton's disastrous fire of 1880.

Geo. Baker's Grist Mill, Shown on the 1858 Map Of Milton Pa

The picture was taken about 1883. The mill was reportedly abandoned in late 1885 and torn down in 1892.

The George Baker Mill, and property, on the 1870 Map of Milton

The stone mill was constructed by George Eckert, Jr. in 1815 on the same site as Andrew Straub’s wooden mill, which Eckert razed. After Eckert’s death, the mill went to his brother-in-law, George Baker. Part of it was swept away by the Great Limestone Run flood of 1817. It was quickly rebuilt. Water-powered until after the fire of May 14, 1880, it had two overshot wheels with a fall of sixteen feet. Water turned the wheels thirty revolutions per minute generating thirty horsepower on each wheel. - From “Milton, Pennsylvania, the 19th Century Town on Limestone Run” by Homer F. Folk

The stone mill viewed from Elm Street.  In the foreground the old "Miltonian", a silsby steam fire engine hose and reel.

1889 Flood - looking east towards Mahoning street.  

The Baker Mill stands on the far left in this photo

Left to right - "Old stone Mill , Reber Tannery (later the Acme parking lot) In center - tall gate with toll house, which was moved to Ferry Lane.

"From June 1, 1879 to May 31, 1880 the mill, with ten full time employees, produced seven hundred barrels of wheat flour, twenty barrels of rye, 20,280 pounds of cornmeal and 67,800 pounds of feed with a value of nine thousand, six hundred and seventeen dollars. Profit for the year was one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-seven dollars. The mill operated four stones and paid skilled workers one dollar and fifty cents a day. Laborers were paid ninety cents a day. Unable to compete with steam operated mills with roller grinders, the Baker estate built a brick smoke stack and a brick building to house a boiler and steam engine. No longer needing Limestone Run, they closed the mill race. If they ever installed a boiler and steam engine, these would have been taken to his new factory when Samuel J. Shimer began to negotiate with the Baker estate and mortgage holders. All deeds were completed by August 1889 and Samuel J. Shimer owned the land and buildings from the main line of the railroad to the Susquehanna River. He used the limestone from the mill in his factory buildings."

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The funeral of George Baker, of Milton, was largely attended on Monday. Friends from every. locality in this section, and some from a distance, were in attendance, among the latter the venerable Frederick Lauer, brewer, of Reading, Pa., who was n uncle of the deceased. The Masonic fraternity, of Milton, of which the deceased was a member, turned out in a body. Mr. Baker was confined to the house with acute rheumatism for about twelve years. He was s native of Germany, but came to this country in his boyhood. He established a brewery in Milton . which he conducted for many years ; afterwards he engaged in the flouring mill business, which he directed up to the time of his death as best he could between his sufferings, which were often most intense, and many times his life despaired of. Dropsy setting In at last ended his existence. He was an exemplary citizen, an enterprising business man, k true friend and a kind, affectionate father and husband. He leaves a wife and four or five grown up .children to mourn his loss. Rev. Gotswald, of the Lutheran church, conducted the funeral services in an impressive and solemn service. Peace to his ashes.

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George Baker died in 1880, at age 59, in Wilkes Barre Pa.  His occupation was listed as Brewer at the time of his death.  It appears he died while traveling, as he still lived in Milton at the time.

A birth record for Sarah Lizzie can be found in the Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church of McEwensville. (Other records may be there as well)