The Red Mill served its community for more than 200 years, processing wool from 1810 to 1834, grinding grain from 1834 to 1901, and then processing graphite and talc from 1901 to 1928 before becoming a museum in 1960 and opening to the public in 1963. The site on the South Branch of the Raritan River had earlier industrial uses as well: in 1782 Daniel Hunt bought 529 acres on both banks of the river, where the west bank already had lime kilns, a saw mill, and a linseed oil mill. He later sold the west bank property to his sons Ralph and Benjamin, and in 1810 Ralph built the earliest section of today s Red Mill for wool processing. The Hunt family became the leading family of the hamlet that grew around the mills, which was known as Hunt s Mills during the 46 years they operated mills on both sides of the river, but Ralph s wool business failed in a downturn in the domestic cloth market, and he lost the family property after defaulting on his mortgage. From 1828 to 1834 John Bray and John B. Taylor ran the woolen mill, and the Taylor family, now the dominant merchant family, changed the town s name from Hunt s Mills to Clinton in honor of New York governor De Witt Clinton. Bray and Taylor continued wool production while also grinding feed, flour, and stone plaister, selling chestnut wood for rails, and running a dry goods store, but they too failed and sold the business for three quarters of its purchase price. Their successor, John W. Snyder, converted the mill to grist production and ended wool processing, but he also fell into debt and lost the property in 1842. After several quick ownership changes, the Easton Bank divided the site into a mill and a quarry, and in 1847 John F. Stiger and John A. Young bought the mill and used it to grind flour and grist for 24 years. After further changes in ownership, Philip Gulick bought it in 1873, produced grist and peach baskets, and later founded the Clinton Illuminating and Water Co. in 1892 to supply electricity for Clinton s street lamps. After Gulick died in 1901, his widow rented the mill to Elmer and Chester Tomson, who bought it in 1905 and changed its operation from grist to graphite, whose black dust was used to blacken cast iron stoves. Because graphite processing was unpopular in town, they turned to grinding soapstone into talc for the Colgate Company, but the Tarriff Act of 1921 most likely ruined the business by doubling the cost of imported Canadian raw material. In 1928 Chester Tomson sold the mill to the Clinton Water Supply Company, ending operations at what was regarded as the last talc mill of its kind in the country. Over time the waterpowered building was altered repeatedly, with sections added, the roofline changed, and a clearstory and later a monitor installed to support changing industrial processes, while the site itself also functioned as both factory and quarry because the river could be easily dammed there and the rocky bluff contained useful dolomite limestone.

Photo: Michael Herrick

Clinton, New Jersey · USA