Metamora Grist Mill
In 1845, Jonathan Banes built a three-story frame cotton mill, known as Metamora Cotton Factory, on this site. Banes, a former contractor on the canal, converted the cotton factory to a flouring mill in 1856, and sold the mill to John Curry in 1857.
Over the next several years the mill was operated by various owners and was known first as Hoosier Mills and later as Crescent Mills. The original mill was destroyed by a fire in 1899 and was rebuilt in 1900. Following a second fire in 1932, it was converted to the present two-story brick building.
In 1946, the State of Indiana purchased a 14-mile section of the Whitewater Canal, including the mill, as a state historic site.
Today the mill grinds both white and yellow corn into corn meal and grits, and wheat into whole wheat flour and cereal. The millstones are powered by the 12-foot breast water wheel in the canal behind the mill.
Marker is on Main Street (a.k.a. Pennington Road) west of Banes Street, on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
