Bentzel’s Mill: One spot says a lot about milling

The situation

Manchester Township’s Bentzel Mill and its grounds represent one of those prime one-spot-says-a-lot sites around York County, filled with history and meaning.

This grassy site, on one bend in the curving Little Conewago Creek, served as muster grounds for local militia to meet up with the George Washington-led army that quelled the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.

In the Civil War, Confederates raided the mill and took seven barrels of flour, an iron-gray horse, and a three-year-old sorrel colt.

Less than a year after York County entrepreneur S. Morgan Smith received his initial patent for his promising “Success” water turbine in 1876, he installed two 27-inch turbines at this mill. This was the first order, or at least early business, for Smith’s turbine enterprise, whose legacy today includes York County giants Precision Components, Voith Hydro, American Hydro and Johnson Controls.

That Bentzel order was a pioneering moment for Smith and the miller. And a farewell event happened near the mill in late June 1972 when waters from Tropical Storm Agnes carried the Bentzel Mill covered bridge downstream and deposited it on its concrete replacement spanning the Little Conewago. This was the last covered bridge in York County operating in its original location. The span crossing the Yellow Breeches and linking York and Cumberland counties on Messiah University’s campus was relocated from nearby Bowmansdale.

Those highlights aside, milling has been the business of this property since the late 1700s. David Bentzel bought this well-watered place in 1824, built the stone residence there today and rebuilt the sawmill then operating there into a grist mill. Later, cigar boxes were made by there.

To sustain milling for all or part of three centuries, it took sturdy millers and their families. These folks joined David Bentzel on the ownership roster: Edward Bentzel, Feliz Bentzel, Paul Boring, Emory Eisenhart, Peter Elsessor, George Ilgenfritz, Joseph Ilgenfritz, Martin Ilgenfritz, Joseph March and Chester Werner. Ownership records also include the Binder, Martin and Meisenhelter families. Today, well-preserved and non-operating mill and grounds are owned by John Gilliland.

Over the centures, the mill and its nearby buildings housed social, business and postal activities, including a modern tavern that opened in 1986. The mill typified this assessment from historian Lila Fourhman-Shaull in her 2010 “Millers’ Tales”: “Mills and milling tell the story of people — our forefathers — and provide great insight about their purposeful lives, their ingenuity, their industry, their thrift, and their courage to go on despite floods, fires, terrible accidents, and sometimes bankruptcy.”

Relatively much is known about this well-preserved mill, miller’s house and other buildings on this scenic area near where Canal and Greenbriar roads meet.

Now, two researchers want to build an information base as available on the Bentzel property for at least 360 mills found on an 1876 York County map.

Sources

• York County PA mills ground grain, served as gathering places
• MTHS – Maps – Shearer’s 1860 York County Map – Manchester Township

The witness

Researchers Thomas Yingling and Richard Resh are working with the York County History Center on an estimated two-year mill inventorying project. And they’re looking for a few good researchers in historical organizations throughout York County. Well, maybe more than a few, considering the number of mills that operated here. For information, contact Tom Yingling: codorusvalleyahs@gmail.com.

They respond to questions about their project below.

Q. Please explain this project involving updating the York County History Center’s mill inventory in York County.

A. The York County History Center in association with Richard Resh and Thomas Yingling are looking to create a temporary consortium of people and historical societies interested in the water powered industrial mills of York County.  Our purpose will be to review and update the list created by Grant Voaden from the 1940’s through the 1970’s.  Grant Voaden was an engineer for S. Morgan Smith Co. & Allis Chalmers. His hobby of collecting the history and photographing the many water-powered mills of York County.  Over 300 mills are in this list, yet there are mills and details missing that we would like to research and add to the list.   Working with the York County History Center and their expertise in archiving will help make this effort more public.

Q. Could you explain the importance of mills to our communities?

A. Water powered mills were the backbone of this country’s industrial power from its beginning.  Mills drove the need for roads, canals and railroads to move their products to market.  Mills processed the grain and fruit for the food we ate, they processed the crops and animal by-products for clothing, fertilizer and more.  They could take the trees and convert them into lumber for construction and paper for printing.  Mills would process the minerals from the ground into a form that could be made into many different products.  Mills not only employed people, they helped create employment demand for all the agricultural, forestry and mining industries required to provide the raw materials to the mills.

Q. Grant Voaden, Terry Kohler, and Ray Kinard have undertaken studies of mills in York County. And Lila Fourhman-Shaull compiled Voaden’s work into a book, Millers’ Tales. Can you explain the significance of these past research efforts?

A. Grant H. Voaden (1902 to 1994), an engineer with S. Morgan Smith and later Allis Chalmers company of York made a hobby of documenting and photographing over 300 old mills throughout York and Adams County from the 1940’s through the 1970’s.  Primarily using the 1876 Pomeroy’s Atlas of York County township maps as his source for mill identity.  He did personal interviews with some of the last living mill owners and operators as well as researching other histories that may mention the mills. His research and documentation are now part of the York History Center archives.  As extensive as his work was, some mills that existed were not on this list, along with some of the details being incorrect. 

Two local amateur but passionate historians, Ray L. Kinard (1935 to 2024) and Terry L. Koller (1944 to 2017) around 2010, embarked on a quest to further document the mills.  Ray had worked in his younger life for A. C. Henry Feed and Grain Mill in Seven Valleys and Terry had worked most his life for the Glatfelter Paper Co. in Spring Grove.   This career connection with mills and their love of history instilled in them the desire to research mill history.  Using Grant Voaden’s list they gathered photos, photocopies of photos and news articles, as well as information from history books.  Their research not only covered York, but Adams County, Lancaster County, Cumberland County and parts of Maryland and beyond.  Their work produced many notebooks of information which was given to the Codorus Valley Area Historical Society by Ray Kinard’s family, in mid-2024.  The historical society is still working its way through this collection to understand what all is in the collection and determine how best to use this information and to understand how it is similar or different from the collection the York County Historical Center has. 

In 2010 the York County Heritage Trust, Director of Library and Archives, Lila Fourhman-Shaull composed a book for publication called the Millers’ Tales – The Mills of York County.  In collaboration with Ray and Terry, Lila produced a beautifully done but short 160-page book showing a good representation of the mills on Grant Voaden’s list.  The book provides small histories on the chosen mills, but nothing extensive and does not include all the mills on the list.

Q. Why are you doing this project?

A. The reason for taking another look at researching the water powered mills of York County is as follows.  Rick Resh from the Heritage Society of West Manheim Township and Tom Yingling and Staffin Hamme with the Codorus Valley Area Historical Society independently have done research on a few mills within the areas the societies represent.  All of us, as well as others we have spoken to, have found some discrepancies between our research and what is documented in Grant Voaden’s’ information.  As mentioned before mills are missing from the list, some ceased operation prior to the 1876 map and some established after. Owner’s names are missing, a few have little to no detail on them, improper stream names assigned to the mill, Numerous other issues have been found. 

Using a variety of maps, from the 1700’s and early 1800’s that are readily available through online resources. Along with deed and tax information available at the York County Archives will allow us to do a deeper dive into the history of these mills currently known and unknown.  We want to establish GPS coordinates for the location of these mills.  Addresses, Post Offices and even townships can change over time.  GPS coordinates do not change.  Working with the York County History Center we would like provide access to the history and location of these mills via their ArcGIS web access.  That all starts with knowing the location (GPS coordinates).

Q. Is there anything else you’d like to detail about this project?

A. Our goal is to have individuals or one or more people from the various historical societies in York County that would join us in this two-year (estimated) project.  By having a large enough group of people that would represent the different areas of York County, volunteers would be able to focus on the area they are most familiar with. 

The questionS

Here are two individuals who saw a gap in local history, and are taking steps to tell a more-complete story of York’s milling past. What other gaps do we have in our history? Are there other areas of study that need to take our focal point?

Related links and sources: Stephen Nicholas and Terry Downs, ” ‘Reinventing The Wheel,’ The Incredible Story of S. Morgan Smith, Minister, Inventor and Industrialist.” Lila Fourhman-Shaull’s “Millers’ Tales, 2010, drawing on the work of Grant Voaden and Philip Bond. Jim McClure’s York County PA mills ground grain, served as gathering places. Top photo, Jim McClure. Other photos, York Daily Record, except for the Manchester Township Historical Society’s photo, second from bottom.