HISTORY
This stone mill, located next to the Abrahm's Delight house, was built in 1833 by David Hollingsworth, the great-grandson of Abraham Hollingsworth, Frederick County's first settler. Abraham, who died in 1748, operated one of the county's first gristmills and passed the business on to his son, Isaac.
The mill was sold in 1870 to Ober & Sons, which operated a phosphate or fertilizer factory there. In 1884, it became a creamery operated by E. R. Thatcher and John V. Tavenner. The City of Winchester bought the mill and neighboring spring in 1890. The mill became a pumping station and the spring was used as the city's main water supply until 1956, when Winchester began drawing water from the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. The spring was renamed Rouss Spring for philanthropist Charles Broadway Rouss, who donated thirty thousand dollars for the water project.
The city renovated the building in 1987. The visitor center occupied the mill for twenty years. The Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society offices are on the second floor of the mill. A gift shop and exhibit space occupy the first floor.
Come see our 2009 special exhibit!
“From the First Shot to the Gallows: Winchester’s Connection to the John Brown Raid”
On the morning of October 16, 1858, the citizens of Winchester received by telegraph the alarming message that Harpers Ferry, only 30 miles away, had been seized by an undetermined number of men whose aim avowedly was to encourage a slave insurrection.
The exhibit tells the story of the more prominent citizens from Judge Richard Parker who presided at the trial of John Brown to Miss Portia Baker’s plight of trying to find an alternate way to get to her dying sister because of the blocked trains through Harpers Ferry.
On April 1, 2009, the exhibit “From the First Shot to the Gallows: Winchester’s Connection to the John Brown Raid” opened to the public at the Hollingsworth Mill. This is the Society’s first of a series of exhibits commemorating the 150th Anniversaries of the American Civil War. The exhibit will run through October 31st and the hours are Monday – Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., and Sunday noon – 4:00 pm.
Hollingsworth Mill
