McConnells Mill being restored bit by bit
SLIPPERY ROCK TWP, Lawrence County — The gristmill at McConnells Mill State Park once produced up to 2,000 pounds of grain per load and distributed tons of product to a 10-mile radius.
While the mill probably won’t ever produce that much grain again, volunteer workers are trying to get it renovated to the point where tour guides at the mill can demonstrate how the turbines worked.
Stephen Frost, a “display animation” historian from Darlington, started the project after his son, Michael Frost, a park ranger at Ohiopyle, Fayette County, said it likely could be restored to the point where the machinery would work as it is supposed to.
“We’re not going to mill anything, but we are going to make it work like it worked,” Frost said. “A lot (of equipment) is where it would have been; we just choose what we want to work on.”
Members of the Little Beaver Historical Society have been working on the mill every Tuesday for the past three years. Frost said he may not live to see the project completed, but he and the other seven or eight consistent workers wanted to get a restoration started.
“About six months of the year, we are here Tuesday mornings,” Frost said. “My son said he remembered when it was running and thought it was possible to make it work like it did again.”
The mill is open at the park for free self-guided tours from 10 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. every Wednesday through Sunday, including summer holidays. Visitors can walk the three floors, which go from the ground-level entrance to the bottom floor, where Slippery Rock Creek runs through in a space that once held the mill’s turbines.
McConnells Mill was designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1972.
Dustin Drew, manager of McConnells Mill State Park, said the mill had produced grain until the mid-20th century and was kept operational until the 1990s. In 2008, the park installed a new turbine, and adjustments have been made to make the mill safe for touring.
“Currently the turbine is not turning,” Drew said. “Some chutes have been removed, some holes in the floor where the chutes went through have been covered; it’s not quite exactly how it was, but a lot of it is where it would have been.”
The turbine is the power source of the entire mill — the creek pushes water through the wheel to spin a pole that runs its way through gears and pulleys on every floor — so it took only a small crew to operate when it was producing grain.
The volunteers working on the mill are starting on the elevators, which took grain up and down the three floors. There also is a system of chutes and tubes that would transport flour and grain to the proper places within the mill.
Frost explained the process, as he has come to understand it.
“Grain came in on the third floor and would feed into the lower tubes,” Frost said. “Whatever came out of the cradle ran through a funnel and out through the floor again. The elevator would transport it to the right place. It’s all a process of the automatic pulley system.”
Historical society volunteers have been trying to find pieces of the project that need to be repaired, and Frost said he even used a 3D printer to replicate small pieces that are hard to come by, such as an oil cap. However, he plans to create most of the missing pieces in a machine shop so the mill can work as authentically as possible.
Frost and Drew said they don’t expect to get every part of the mill operational.
“A lot of the machinery we don’t have the intention of getting completely operational,” Drew said. “The machines are telling us sometimes what is going to work and what is not. It’s just doing the best with what’s here.”
Paul Campbell, one of the volunteers with the historical society, said he is amazed at the engineering techniques that made the mill operate.
“It has been a fascinating journey,” he said.
Drew said the park gets some funding that can be used for projects such as the mill restoration, but the historical society has been leading the coordination of money and volunteers for the work.
He said being approached by a group of people who wanted to work on a park project on their own “sweetened the pot.”
“We do depend on volunteers a lot, so to have this group come with the knowledge and consistency, that’s the intention we need around here,” Drew said. “We don’t have the historical knowledge or time on our own staff to take on projects like this.”
If the mill ever is fixed to the point where the turbines are operational, Drew said the park staff and volunteers plan to operate it during visiting hours.
The Little Beaver Historical Society is a nonprofit organization that Frost said does more work than the McConnells Mill project, which is why volunteers only visit the mill once a week.
Frost also said he would be happy to see more volunteers help with the project and hopes to see more young people get involved.
Frost said despite the challenges of fixing a 100-year-old defunct facility, he has come to enjoy the work.
“I retired about 10 years ago and just could never quit,” Frost said. “I do enjoy it; we do what we’ve got to do to fix it up.”
For more information on the project, call Frost at 724-714-4821. For information or to contribute financially to McConnells Mill, call the park office at 724-368-8811.
