Mount Union borough

Mount Union's Two Grist Mills

Mount Union had two grist mills in 1882, according to J. Simpson Africa's county history. One dated from 1832 or 1833, and the other from 1867.

The older one stood at the lower end of the borough and ran on water taken from Hill Valley Run. Africa says the heirs of John Shaver built it, and that Henry Shaver sold it to David Etnier, who enlarged it and made it a first-class custom mill. Charles Howard Welch's 1909 history tells the same story of the mill he knew as Ewing's Mill, with the same builders, the same date and the same sale. Welch calls Henry Shaver John's son and says he ran the mill for a number of years, and that John Rummel worked it for several years with Etnier. John Ewing and his sons came from Shirleysburg in 1889, bought the mill, and made many improvements. John Ewing died in 1902. By 1909 his son J. Elmer Ewing owned it alone, and it was equipped to run by either water or steam.

Welch also remembered an older grist mill, which stood about where John Kipple's cider mill stood in his day, opposite an old saw mill on the south side of Hill Valley Run. He says that by the time J. Elmer Ewing's flouring mill was erected the old saw mill had gone to decay, and that a newer saw mill went up on the old grist mill's site and ran for many years by water power. He gives no builder or date for that old grist mill. We do not know how it fits with Africa, who calls the mill of 1832 or 1833 the pioneer grist mill.

The other mill of 1882 was the National Steam Grist Mill on Water Street. Peter M. Bare built it in 1867 and ran it for two years, then sold it to John Bare, whom Welch calls his brother. In 1870 John Bare sold it to William Fields, who sold it to B. J. Devor. Going through the town as an 1873 atlas showed it, Welch lists the mill as owned by Devor and Doyle. Africa and Welch both say Devor sold it to W. H. Allen in 1878, and Africa calls Allen the present proprietor in his 1883 book. The 1897 Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia gives a different date in its sketch of Devor, saying he owned and ran the mill from 1871 until 1875.

By 1909 the steam mill was Rummel's Mill, on the corner of Washington and Water Streets. Welch says David Etnier followed Allen as its operator, in company with John Rummel, and that David Rummel, John's son, bought it from Allen in 1885. That puts Etnier and John Rummel together at both mills in Welch's telling, and he dates neither partnership. David Rummel went to Washington, D.C., in 1887 and spent 15 years there, and Welch says John Rummel had charge of the mill while he was away. The 1897 encyclopedia says John came to Mount Union in 1868 and was still milling there. He died on February 13, 1908.

Welch says the mill had stopped grinding years before and had long been kept as a flour and feed store. By 1909 David Rummel had put in a gasoline engine, and Welch says he did considerable grinding with it and handled many carloads of grain, feed, hay and flour every month.

Checked against the record. Checked November 1, 2026, against the page images of J. Simpson Africa's 1883 county history, Charles Howard Welch's 1909 history of Mount Union and the 1897 Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia. Africa names Hill Valley Run but not Ewing's Mill, and Welch's entry on Ewing's Mill does not name the stream, so we treat them as one mill because the builders, the date and the sale from Henry Shaver to David Etnier all match. Welch's steam mill sales up to 1878 closely follow Africa's, so he may not be a separate witness to them. The brother relationship, the partnerships of Etnier and John Rummel, and the 1885 sale rest on Welch alone. The 1897 sketch of John Rummel lists a son William D. but no David, so the father and son link is Welch's as well. Still open: which year Devor left the steam mill, who built the older grist mill and when, when the steam mill stopped grinding, and the deeds for each sale.

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