Shoemaker-Bosler Mill Site

A corn-grist mill powered by a water wheel was erected here in 1746 on a mill race of Tookany Creek. It was owned and operated by Dorothy Penrose Shoemaker, a descendant of Richard Wall, in partnership with Richard Mather and John Tyson, and the Shoemaker family eventually became the sole owners. The surrounding area became known as Shoemakertown. During the Revolutionary War, Hessians retreating by way of Old York Road from the Battle of Edge Hill damaged the mill and took the Shoemakers' seven cows. The mill was repaired and operated by the family until 1847, when Charles Bosler, who had worked for the mill as a wagon driver bringing in supplies and taking flour to market and whose land adjoined the Shoemakers', purchased it. Later named C. Bosler & Sons, the family converted the mill to steam power and enlarged the building in the 1880's, allowing it to produce 150 barrels of award-winning flour a day. The Bosler family operated the mill until 1923, and it was demolished in 1927.

Elkins Park, Pennsylvania · United States