Old Rock Mill

A frontier town could not live without its mills, and Farmington's rose under the Richards family. This tall stone grist mill was built at Brigham Young's direction by the millwright Frederick Kesler, replacing an earlier mill that Dr. Willard Richards — one of the church's senior leaders — had put up in 1852. Richards had already opened a sawmill up the canyon in 1851, reached by a toll road the territory granted him, to cut the timber the new town's houses needed. When he died in 1854, his nephews took over the family's mills.

What the plaque says

The Richards Grist Mill, originally known as the Rock Grist Mill, was owned and operated by S. W. Richards & Co. It was designed and built by Utah millwright Frederick Kesler at the direction of LDS Church President Brigham Young. James Leithead and Reuben Broadbent acted as foremen of the project. This tall stone mill replaced Farmington's first grist mill built nearby in 1852, by Dr. Willard Richards. Dr. Richards opened a saw mill in 1851, four miles up North Cottonwood (Farmington) Canyon. The legislature of the Utah Territory granted him the right to build a toll road to the sawmill. That mill produced timber for the local homes and supplied lumber for a shingle millat the mouth of the canyon. When Dr. Richards died in 1854, at the age of 49, his nephews, Franklin D. and Samuel W. Richards, gained ownership of the mills and replaced the pioneer gristmill with this larger structure. Construction on the rock mill began in 1857, using local stone and lumber and incorporating some of the original hand-hewn timbers from the first mill. When the mill was finally finished, Franklin D. Richards wrote in his diary, dated June 19, 1862, "Today I went to Farmington to dedicate the Rock Grist Mill which is now ready to start milling." There were two other mills constructed in Farmington, but the Old Rock Mill provided the community with meal and flour for more than forty years. The Old Rock Mill was converted into one of Farmington's first power stations after 1906. It later was used as an ice house and for fruit storage for a local store. The mill became the Heidelberg restaurant in 1960. 2005 No. 308 Davis Farmington Company

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lagoon Amusement Park — 0.7 mi
  A beloved family amusement park operating since 1886
• Hill Aerospace Museum — 9.3 mi
  Over 90 military aircraft displayed indoors and on the tarmac
• Ensign Peak — 14 mi
  A short hike to the spot where Brigham Young surveyed the valley
• Salt Lake City — 15 mi
  Utah's capital and largest city — where the Wasatch Range meets the Great Salt Lake.

More markers nearby

• Primary Organized & Farmington Meeting House — 0.6 mi
• Pioneer Cabin — 0.6 mi
• Honoring Builders of Salt Lake Temple — 0.6 mi
• Honoring the Builders of the Salt Lake Temple — 0.7 mi