Mills and Furnaces

Brinton Mills

On the west branch of Chester Creek, a short distance above Concord Township line, is Caleb Brinton's grist-mill. The tract on which it stands had been in the ownership of the Brinton family for many generations. In 1770 William Brinton owned the land, and in 1788, Joseph Brinton had there a saw-mill, malt-house, and brewery. In 1802 his son, John, and his grandson, Joseph Brinton, were operating a grist-mill which had been built about five years prior to that date. In 1815 the grist-mill was changed to a woolen-factory, and was operated by John and Joseph Brinton. In 1826 the mill contained one pair of stocks, two carding-engines, twenty-four and thirty-six inches, one billy of forty spindles, two jennies, of sixty and seventy spindles, and was then manufacturing from four to five hundred yards of satinets per week. At that time both John and Joseph Brinton were dead, and the factory was operated by William Marshall, who subsequently purchased and continued in business there until 1835, when the building was destroyed by fire. The real estate was bought by Caleb Brinton, who built a stone grist-mill, which he has owned and operated to the present time.[bib]703[/bib]

Hills Mill

On Sept. 24, 1683, five hundred acres of land was surveyed to Nicholas Newlin, which, lying to the south of the Hitchcock tract, extended from the eastern township line westward to Concord Street road, which ran north and south, dividing the township in the centre. Within this estate, which was patented to Newlin May 1, 1685, a part of the headwaters of the west branch of Chester Creek were embraced, and through the lower part of Newlin's land, running east and west. Providence and Concord road was laid out Aug. 15, 1715. Twenty-two years prior to this highway being approved, Aug. 21, 1693, a road still in use, beginning east of the present school-house on that road, and running thence northward to the Thornbury line, was laid out by the grand jury. On April 2, 1703, the tract was resurveyed to Nathaniel Newlin, the son of Nicholas, and was found to contain five hundred and fifty-two acres of land. The following year (1704) Nathaniel Newlin built a stone grist-mill on the west branch of Chester Creek, now owned by Samuel Hill.

Palmer's Mill on Crum Creek

The only grist-mill in the township [Upper Providence Township] in 1799, except that of Thomas Bishop, was owned by Jacob Siter, who was assessed in that year on twenty-seven acres of land, — a grist-mill, plaster-mill, and a frame smith-shop. Where this mill was located is not known, for in 1802 his name does not appear in the assessment-roll as owning a mill. That he lived on Crum Creek is evident from the fact that he was also assessed on forty-seven acres of land in Marple Township. On the 23d of March, 1801, Abram Jones purchased a dower-right in a property on Crum Creek, on which in 1802 he was assessed as owner of a grist-mill in Upper Providence, and also on a saw-mill in Marple. On Jan. 25, 1812, he bought of the executors of William Hunter, the remaining right in the mill property. In the report of Delaware County manufacturers, in 1826, it is reported, " On Crum Creek in Upper Providence and Marple a grist- and saw-mill head and fall twelve feet owned and occupied by Abraham Jones, capable of grinding twenty-five thousand bushels of grain and sawing one hundred thousand feet of lumber per annum, but not employed to that extent.

Trimble Mills (aka Felton Mills)

Trimble, or Felton Mills.— In 1734, William Trimble appeared at Friends' Meeting at Concord with Ann Palmer, and there they declared their intention of marriage. Soon after their marriage, William Trimble bought one hundred acres of land, the half of the two hundred acres patented to Thomas King, July 22, 1684. The part purchased adjoined the Nicholas Newlin Mill land, to the south of the latter. In 1742, William and Ann Trimble built a stone house, which is still standing, and now owned by Dr. Joseph Trimble. William Trimble, the younger, had on this estate a saw-mill in 1782, and prior to 1799 had erected a paper-mill, which was operated as such by him until 1813, when it was changed to a cotton-factory at the instance of John D. Carter, an Englishman, who had just previous to that time immigrated to Pennsylvania. This factory was four stories in height, sixty by thirty-four feet, and was conducted by Carter until 1826, when he purchased the Knowlton Mills and removed there. The Trimble cotton-factory at that time contained four carding-engines, ten hundred and sixty-eight spindles, and spun seven hundred and fifty pounds of cotton yarn weekly.