Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1975. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“Bear's Mill is a historic gristmill near the city of Greenville in Darke County, Ohio, United States. Built in 1849, this watermill is the oldest existing industrial building in Darke County.”
Wikipedia article Bear's Mill, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 25 National Register listings in Darke County · listed in 1975 · category: Building.
National Register reference number.75001372- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
This township was erected in March, 1819, and contained all the land east of a line running south from the northwest corner of Section 4, Township 10 north, of Bange 3 east, to the southeast corner of Section 28, Township 9. of Bange 3. It was detached from the east end of Greenville Township and the south end of Wayne. In 1820, Sections 3, 4 and 10, of Township 10, Bange 3, were taken into Biehland Township. In June, 1838, all of Township 8, Bange 3, and Township 8. Bange 4, that was in Adams, was taken into a new township, which was entitled Van Buren.
The second permanent settlement in Darke County was made in Adams Township. In 1808, Abraham Studabaker, with his wife, settled on the bank of Greenville Creek, opposite the present site of Gettysburg, on Section 25, on land now owned by A. Stoltz. From what the writer can gather. Mr. Studabaker was the first white man that became a permanent settler of Adams Township, as we have no account of any before him. and none other till the close of the Indian war of 1812. Very soon after the cessation of hostilities, Maj. George Adams, who had served in the armies of Harmar and WTayne, came to the township, and, studying the needs of the pioneers and his own interest as well, erected a flouringmill on Section 33. where now stands the mill of Stoltz & Coppess. This was the pioneer mill of the count}*, and became known far and wide ; and there are many of the pioneers now living who have a pleasing recollection of the gallant Major and his old-time mill. Their estimation was shown by the perpetuation of his memory in the name of the township in which he made his home.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 505 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Bear's Mill between 1838 and
1975: 478 Animalia, 20 Fungi, 7 Plantae. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A VERWYST, A. F. C.; Stover, W. G., Albrecht, C. and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
2 workings within 5 miles of Bear's Mill: 1 past producer, 1 producer.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Greenville, the town this property stands in, in 65 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 31 thunderstorm wind, 18 hail, 9 flood, 4 flash flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Several mobile homes in the Sherwood Forest Trailer Park suffered severe damage, and a nearby 10' by 12' shed was destroyed. The roof of a home on Hog Path Road was torn off.
High water was reported on roads and some roads were closed due to heavy rainfall and previous snow melt. Flooding began around 0749 EST on February 28th and continued until around 1100 EST on March 1st. Damage estimates during February were around five-thousand dollars.
High water was reported on roads and some of the roads were closed due to heavy rainfall and previous snow melt. Flooding began around 0749 EST on February 28th and continued until around 1100 EST on March 1st. Damage estimates during March were around five-thousand dollars.
Hail as large as baseballs fell across the county for the second time in 90 minutes. This time the hail fell over a populated area causing damage to many cars, including 2 car lots.
1 paper published in this town,
digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 0 issues,
0 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be
looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
2,510 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
of the mill, 44" and 30.5" respectively, that provide 65 a line shaft to transfer power, a generator for lights, and floor has storage bins, transfer machinery, flour purifier, wood in 1922. CONDITION DESCRIPTION cable pulley. recent years to replace stone crumbling from erosion.The tion is in part original stone and part concrete installed in The interior of the mill is functional industrial.The levels serviced by a water powered winch with cable fall from machinery is driven by two water turbines beneath the rear scourers,aspirator and winch are under the roof. The black walnut weatherboard is the first sheathing from Water power on Greenville Creek provides a nine foot (Check One) Bears Mill is a three and one-half story frame industrial few exceptions. horsepower. and sifting machines.
The top line shaft, corn screener dam of 65' and a 160' main dam, both of concrete that replaced head of water at the forebay. Iwo dams connected by levee Excellent The and barrelling aredone on the second floor.The three imported building of the Jacksonian era which faces east. The south side upstream has a gate for the The central bay has grain handling doors on all four The first floor has a small sales store, The founda- hewn timbers some of which are 12"xl6"beams up to50'long.
Statement of significance
Sculpture The younger Cromer set his mill on a new burst of Landscape are standing ready for use today on the second floor. (see continuation sheet) increase in mail rates during the lg50's made business is the oldest manufacturing facility in Darke County and purchased five of the new mills from a Dayton firm in l886 PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) gristmill truly operated in the pre-industrial manner. It abrasive qualities. These stones, installed in 1850, are of partnerships. \Marcellus Cromer bought out John Stoltz purchased the mill in 1946. ground cornmeal, wheat flour, whole rye flour, buckwheat, distant places as Tahiti, Alaska, and Oslo, Norway. The becoming his father's partner in 1884. When the elder Cromer 1849 progress.
Art Roller mill machinery was first patented in Andrews chose to maintain the grinding out flour today.After twelve years Bear sold milling in 1849.Local millstones proved deficient so the and renovated his mill's machinery.T Three of these mills
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 75001372, 16 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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