MORGANTOWN — It looks as if a functional piece of the area’s industrial past is about to change hands.
The organization that’s worked to keep it running and available to the public for nearly 45 years will be no more.
One of the items scheduled to be up for discussion when Morgantown City Council meets Tuesday evening is the acceptance of the Easton Roller Mill property from the Monongalia County Historical Society.
According to the memorandum of agreement included in the agenda packet, the MHS intends to dissolve and seeks the continuation of its mission by distribution of its assets to the city.
“The Morgantown History Museum was approached by the board members of the Monongalia Historical Society with the opportunity to potentially take over ownership and operation of the Easton Roller Mill. The board of the mill and membership has been declining for a number of years, and they were interested in the museum taking over,” Morgantown Director of Arts and Cultural Development Vincent Kitch said.
Kitch said the mill will be operated as an extension of the Morgantown History Museum and will be open seasonally and for special events.
In addition to the mill property and various pieces of equipment, the historical society has approximately $27,000 in an account that will be among the assets conveyed.
Former Monongalia County Commissioner Ed Hawkins is the most recent listed president of the Monongalia Historical Society.
Hawkins said the group’s activities were becoming less frequent as the members got older. COVID eventually brought them to a stop.
“It’s just not an operating entity anymore, and that’s sad to say. It was very strong for a number of years, but old age caught up with almost all of us. Recruiting younger people to value history is difficult,” Hawkins said. “I don’t like to think of the society not existing. I don’t like to think of us not being able to meet anymore. It is sad, but the folks the city has with the Morgantown [History] Museum are really capable people. I have high hopes it’ll continue to be a valued piece of our local history.”
The construction of what is now the Easton Roller Mill was completed by Philadelphia carpenter Henry Mack in 1867. Mack had been hired by Henry Koontz, who purchased some 600 acres a few miles east of Morgantown, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, about five years earlier.
The property passed through a number of hands over the years, until Estella Ley Pickenpaugh willed the mill to the Monongalia Historical Society around 1980.
For years to follow, MHS held annual Mill Day celebrations that would include the operation and tours of the mill, mountain music and, later, a pancake breakfast.
The mill property, located on Easton Mill Road, was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1976
Additional information about the Easton Roller Mill and the Monongalia Historical Society is available at monongaliahistoricalsoceity.org.
