Soper's Mill
From Rofflehaus
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Soper's Mill was a mill on Skunk River and just south of, what is now, 170th street (see google map link below). The mill was believed to be on the east bank. The mill's dam washed out in 1909.
Next to the Soper's Mill (no longer standing if the "Old Iron Bridge") is the Soper's Mill Bridge built in 1939.
The mill was originally built in circa 1862 and named the Hughes Mill, a water powered saw mill, was named after its owner Thomas Hughes. In 1871, the mill changed hands to Thomas K. Soper and was renamed the "Soper's Mill" and remodeled/re-built. Soper changed it from a saw mill to a flour mill to produce "Sopers Superlative", a buckwheat flour. The mill closed in 1883 due to the lack of sufficient water flow in the Skunk River.
Thomas Soper was the uncle of Arabella Ryerson, wife of William Buckingham Welch whom was the son of president Adonijah Welch.
[edit] Party place
After the mill closed and before it was razed, the mill was the site of numerous parties (aka, keggers).
[edit] "H" Tree
Near the mill was a pair of trees that resembled an "H". The branch of one tree grew toward the other tree and then became a part of it to form an "H".
[edit] External links
- Google map showing the approximate location of the Soper's Mill Bridge and the mill was just south-west of there
