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When the Illick's Mill Partnership formed in 2001, the students immediately began the task of researching and writing the history of Illick's Mill, and what an amazing history it is. Of course this made the project students want to get the Mill listed on the National Registry of Historic Sites. Little did they know it would take four years.
Illick's Mill is the 20th Bethlehem location accepted on to the National Register of Historic Places, which started in 1966. It is also Northampton County's 45th site. Before being accepted on to the Register, Illick's Mill students tried for the listing three times before they were successful. During their research for the Register, they discovered many things about the Mill they never knew before. Illick's Mill operated as a grist mill from 1856-1915. It produced flour for trade primarily in Bethlehem and Hanover Township. John Peter was the very first owner of the Mill. He built it and owned it with his son Joseph Peter. They sold the Mill to Samuel Shimer on April 1, 1869. When Samuel Shimer ended up 2 thousand dollars in debt, all of his land, roughly 20 acres including the Mill and property was taken from him. On October 14, 1879, William Illick bought the Mill for fourteen hundred dollars and continued on with the flour and feed company. In 1885, Joseph Illick, William's son, and his partner, Henry Lapp, took over the Mill. In 1909, the Mill grounded its last flour, and Joseph Illick shut it down. The Mill re-opened for different uses over the years, such as a teenage hang-out where music was played or a Halloween haunted house, which was its last use before the Illick's Mill Partnership took it over.
The students worked long and hard to get Illick's Mill on the registry. The work began in 2001 when Dana Braunreuther and Michelle Longenbach began extensive research into the Mill's history. Prior to their efforts very little was known about the Mill's history. In fact Dana and Michelle discovered that some of the history on file was inaccurate. For example, newspapers regularly stated the Mill's construction date as 1865, but Dana and Michelle found the original deed in Easton, and it was dated 1856. There is also another instance where history was wrong. In the second year, Clayton Chiles and Terence Stilin-Rooney discovered that even though the Illick's did not run the Mill themselves after 1902, they had rented it out to a newly-formed Monocacy Milling Company (MMC) for twenty-five dollars a month. MMC closed in 1915 due to a disease epidemic.
Clayton Chiles, quotes, "Terence and I worked on many statements on Historical Significance and how the Mill contributed to our community. We also did a lot of writing in general along with extensive research on the Mill." Clayton also took all of the photos that were eventually submitted with the application.
The students in the 3rd and 4th years worked extremely hard as well. They were Adam Longenbach and Paul Brones in the 3rd year, and Andrew Werkheiser in the 4th year. Adam Longenbach remembers, "Paul and I revised all the work that past Illick's Mill students did. We also talked to NHR's Greg Ramsey back and forth and followed up on as much as we could to get the job done." Adam and Paul were also instructed by Mr. Ramsey to accurately measure all of the windows in Illick's Mill, a painstaking process that took several weeks. In the final year, Andrew worked on answering specific questions that Greg Ramsey had; for example, Mr. Ramsey asked for more specific dates related to the Mill's operation, so Andrew had to return to the Northampton County Archives for answers. In addition the photos had to be renumbered and very difficult report requirements related to pagination and document formatting needed to be satisfied.
All of the students from all four years worked extremely hard to get this done, and a representative was present from each class in Harrisburg when the Historic Review Board recommended the Mill for nomination to the registry. Ms. Dolan quotes, "It was always our goal from the beginning to give Illick's Mill the historical recognition it deserves. The highest recognition a building can receive in the United States is on the National Historical Registry."
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