Analysis of Peirce Mill and Argyle Mill.
Two Mills a Half a Mile apart, and Built by the same Millwright Isaac
Blagden's and Argyle Mills: These mills were on the west
bank of Rock Creek a few hundred yards north of where Rock Creek and the
Broad Branch tributary meet. About half way between where Broad Branch enters
Rock Creek, and where the Boulder Bridge (circa 1902) is located. The date
of their construction is unknown (circa 1790-1800), but the mills were in
operation early in the 19th century. One of the mills produced wheat flour
and the other produced rag paper, and then later fertilizer from bone. The
mills ceased operations in 1889. The mill was last owned by Thomas Blagden,
a lumber merchant from Georgetown. This mill was built by millwright Isaac
Pearce for Argyle, Pigman and Crow. Pigman and Crow who owned a D.C.
Federal Mill at Chain Bridge, originally owned Lyon's or Federal
Mill also on Rock Creek, and then later a mill in Montgomery County.
Upstream side of Blagden Mill.
One half of the Argyle Mills, the Argyle Flour Mill, or the Thomas Blagden Mill
as pictured in 1860, photographed by T. R. Peale. The other half was
originally a paper mill structure at this time it had been converted to
a bone mill. The same machinery which could tare rags into fibers could
also tare bones into smaller particles. Note: The center section being
of wood so perhaps new machinery could be installed in the mill. The
mill continued to operate until 1889 when its dam was washed out.
Its sister mill at this time was out of operation because its dam was washed out. Peirce Mill or the Shoemaker Mill
did not start operating again until the 1870's when a new dam was
constructed, and the mill was operated by a James Leffel Water Turbine,
and a second saw mill was constructed. The Shoemaker Mill
may have retained its millstones, but its other machinery more than
likely was changed. A wooden vertical water wheel revolves at 9 to 10
revolutions per minute. The wooden gears and cogs the gear ratios
go up to get the machinery operating at the required speed. With a
water turbine the turbine either goes too fast or at the desired speed
to operate machinery. So generally the gear ratios are geared downward
or power down. So the mill in its last life would have had metal line
shafts and hangers. In 1897 Shoemaker's Mill
broke down. From the photo of the turbine excavated in the 1936
restoration you can clearly see that the vertical runner shaft is
tilted to the side meaning that the bottom bearing failed, and
therefore made it impossible to turn the runner inside of the turbine
case. So as the White Brother's miller's ledger stated, "the main shaft
broke" of the water turbine. The water turbine should have operated for
at least 100 years before needing regular maintenance and servicing,
but instead it failed after 21 years.
Pearce, Pierce, Peirce and Shoemaker's Mill: These mills
were located on the west bank of Rock Creek about a mile north of the National
Zoo. Pierce Mill is the only survivor of all the mills that operated on
Rock Creek. The main reason for this was alternative use, it was converted
into a teahouse while the other mills were torn down to make way for roads.
The current mill was built by a millwright and Quaker from Pennsylvania,
Isaac Pierce, in 1820.. There were two prior mills, Reed's Mill (1747),
and Deakin's Mill (1790). Deakin's Mill was a two story wooden
structure with two pairs of millstones, and the Oliver Evans system of automated
flour milling. This is where Isaac Pearce only makes sense in taring down
the second mill built on the site, that of William Deakin's Oliver Evans
equipped mill, was the the death of Oliver Evans in 1919. Mr. Pearce must
have realized that he could not build a larger stone flour mill without
out paying a second user fee to Oliver Evans and perhaps his estate. During
this period of 1820 to 1860, merchant milling waited for the important technological
developments in farming, transportation, and grain storage to catch up with
the mill revolution that Evans' began in the 1780's.
Historical Significance: The two last millers at Shoemaker's Mill,
was Alcibiades P., and Charles White who are decedents of James White who
built the first mill on Rock Creek. White's Mill was located on a tract
of land next to Rock Creek, between Military Road and north of Blagden's
Mill, was granted under the name of White's Mill Seat in 1634. Jonathan
Shoemaker the miller at John Quincy Adams' Columbian Mill, was originally
Thomas Jefferson's miller at the Shadwell Mill. Jonathan Shoemaker
was close personal friends with Dolly Madison, and she used to take a buckboard
to the mill and visit him. Isaac Pearce's two brothers were Samuel and Joshua
Peirce who in 1780 started Peirce Arboretum, which became Piece Park in
the nineteenth century, and in 1906 it became Longwood Gardens.
Both mill buildings are basically 40 by 50 feet. The Blagden's and
Argyle Mills was laid out on a east-west axis on a map with its water
wheel being located on the west side of the building. The Pearce, Pierce,
Peirce and Shoemaker's Mill was laid out on a north-south axis
on a map with its water wheel being located on the north side of the building.
The ideal location or placement of the water wheel in both mills would have
been on the south side of the building. The reason for this was having the
water wheel located where it would receive the most sun during its winter
path across the sky to keep ice melted from the water wheel during the winter
The Argyle Flour Mill had a 11 foot fall with an overshot water
wheel. Old photos of the Argyle Paper Mill or the later Blagden
Bone Mill show this mill having a pitch-back water wheel. The Pearce
Mill had a 7 to 9 foot fall, with a breast shot water wheel. If the
1830 painting of Pearce Mill is correct, then the original water
wheel was 14 to 18 feet in diameter. It is unknown the type of water wheel
the Pearce Saw Mill circa 1810, and the later Shoemaker Saw Mill
had since no photos of either structure have surfaced. The Argyle Mills
had a mill race of about a quarter mile in length while the Pearce Mills
had a mill race of about 350 feet in length. Both mills appear to have had
a water wheel that was two sections wide.
Basically machinery that would have been used to tare up used rags could
have also been used to crush bones in the beginning process of making bone
meal that was used for fertilizer. The two operations of grinding wheat
flour and making bone meal have to be in separate buildings. The reason
for this is that bones come from dead farm animals in which the flesh is
putrefying, and so to keep the maggots out of the flour the operations have
to be in separate buildings. Decedents of the Pearce and Shoemaker families
have said when the wind was right, you could smell the bone mill down at
the Shoemaker Mill.
When grain or grist mills are combined with other milling operations the
most common is the pairing of a grain and saw mills. Back in the middle
ages people got away from eating brown flour because dishonest millers might
adulterate the flour with saw dust. So millers would be highly suspect if
located in combination with an operation whose byproduct was saw dust. Adam's
or Columbian Mill was built in combination with a plaster mill which
was not a problem since the plaster was more a valuable product or commodity
than the flour.
Both mills were built for agricultural and commercial activity that increased
over the years in this region until it declined. The beauty of both mill
buildings vernacular is derived from the craftsmanship inherent in its practical
design and construction of local native blue granite field stone. It is
too bad that the date stone from Argyle Mill, "I. B. P."
along with the actual date of construction was perhaps lost when the mill
was torn down for the building of Beach Drive in the 1890's.
Both mills had a living space for the miller nearby, and both mills had
another milling operation besides the flour mill. The Peirce Mill
and Argyle Mill were the third largest mill structures along Rock
Creek. Lyon's or Federal Mill being the largest merchants
mill, and Adam's or Columbian Mill being the second largest.
Above Argyle Mills were the mills that served the local community, the custom
or grist mills, beginning with Peter's Mill, and going northward
into Montgomery County.
Both mills were virtually identical except in the placement of the windows.
The two mill buildings were constructed that followed pragmatic lines. The
Argyle Mill had its windows were placed where light was needed and
omitted where grain and storage areas needed continuous wells and protection
from light. Then built a number of years later but following perhaps the
same plan, Isaac Peirce in building his Peirce Mill became more concerned
for symmetrical exterior patterns of windows that allowed light and air
to enter from all sides of the building. Both mills were the same dimensions
in size, and both mills had a mill race where the two mills could be operated
independently of each other.
One of the most striking differences between the two mills (besides the
placement of the doors and windows) was that the Argyle Mill has
two wooden gable ends, while Peirce Mill has one of wood and the
other of stone. This may have effected the placement of the date stone of
the Argyle Mill, or it may not have had a date stone at all. In a
1900 photograph of Peirce Mill, it shows two dormers on the east
roof of the mill that were not shown in an 1830 painting of Peirce Mill.
None of the photographs of the Argyle Mill shows any dormers on the
In the later years of the Argyle Mill or Blagden's Mill (after
it stopped operating) the millstones were removed. More than likely they
went to be used in another mill, which was the common custom. The closest
operating mill at that time would have been the Peirce Mill. So perhaps
both mills live on together in the Peirce Mill. It is recorded that
the center millstones in Peirce Mill was purchased for the mill in
1880 from Georgetown. So more than likely, they came from the nearby Blagden's
Mill, and perhaps the agent or millwright's office was located in Georgetown.
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the "state of
the art" mill would have been very different than one found in the
(lets say) fifteenth century. Today, as in years past, Peirce Mill
(and Argyle Mill if it was still standing) would have served as testimony
to the revolution in the milling industry that took place during this time
period not buy their builder Isaac Peirce, but because of the American inventor
Oliver Evans (1755-1819) and his book, "The Young Mill-Wright and
Miller's Guide," first published in 1795. By 1790, this section
of Maryland that would become the federal city in 1800, all existing mills
and new mills were already being equipped with the Oliver Evans automated
system of flour milling. The invention of labor saving devices impacted
the construction of both of these mills, and the Deakin's Mill as
Both the Argyle Mill and the Peirce Mill were sister mills.
The quarry for Peirce Mill, is located along Broad Branch Road, and
the quarry for the Argyle Mill, is located along Argyle or Blagden
Mill Road on the east side of Rock Creek where the road went up and out
of the valley. For a number of years, Isaac Peirce tried to purchase the
Argyle Mill, but could not, this is why perhaps he tried later to
build a better looking mill.
Program's Source: Interpretive programs by Theodore R. Hazen,
Master Miller (mill operator), Millwright, Curator of Molinology, Site Supervisor,
and Lead Interpreter, Pierce Mill, Rock Creek Park, National Park Service,
National Capital Region, The Department of the Interior, 1984-1995, "Milling
along Rock Creek."
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