Simpsonville Mill
| Simpsonville Mill | |
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| General information | |
| Type | Grist Mill |
| Location | Cedar Lane, Columbia, Maryland |
| Coordinates | 39°14′25″N 76°50′23″W / 39.24028°N 76.83972°W |
| Completed | Mid 1700s |
The Simpsonville Mill is a historic pre-colonial mill complex in Simpsonville, Maryland, part of the Columbia, Maryland land development.
The Stone mill ruins are located under the Cedar lane bridge spanning the Middle Patuxent River adjacent to the James and Anne Robinson Nature Center.
The Mill has been known as Joshua Warfield's mill, Richard Owing's Mill, and Simpsonville Mill. Annapolis raised John Hobbs Jr purchased property along the Middle Patuxent River Valley in 1741, selling it to Joshua Dorey in 1749. In 1768, Joshua Dorsey listed the stone mill in his will. The property was acquired by Vachel Worthington in 1789. Richard Owings purchased 11 acres surrounding the mill in 1796 and expanded the property to 1000 acres. The Owings brothers operated several local mills when Napoleonic Wars caused a brief surge in flour prices, making operations very profitable at $11.00 or more a barrel, but declined shortly afterward. In 1852, Charles Ridgley Simpson bought 215 acres surrounding the mill. Production shifted to wool cloth with six employees manning six spindles, four looms, and two carders. William Simpson inherited the mill after his brother's death in 1854. After the conclusion of the Civil War, William Bradshaw operated the mill from 1865 until his death in 1877. The mill was auctioned off and the Ellicott City Times described the mill at this time as...
A large three story woolen factory driven by a new turbine wheel of 25 horsepower. Grist Mill, and Saw Mill, Blacksmith and Wheelwright Shop. A Store Building with eight dwelling houses, A large switzer barn with stabling for twelve horses with all necessary farm buildings 215 acres under cultivation and good fencing
James Simpson brought the mill back to the Simpson family in 1878 who subsequently sold off a small parcel of the property and converted from wool production back to milling. Justice of the Peace Charles R. and Mary Wilson owned the mill from 1904-1909. From 1909 to 1934 former Howard County Commissioner William Welling Iglehart purchased the property with his brother John Iglehart. Iglehart operated the building as a Sawmill, Grist Mill and pre-prohibition basement Cider Mill with production decreasing rapidly by 1915. In 1917 John Iglehart took over. In 1920, a mill fire gutted the building, leaving the stone walls mostly intact. As the Great depression hit, the Eueka-Maryland Assurance Company took over in 1934 after the Igleharts defaulted on a mortgage. In 1963, Howard Research and Development purchased the property.
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