Joshua Twing Gristmill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Joshua Twing Gristmill
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 Location in Vermont
Location in the United States
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| Location | 450 N. Main St., Barre, Vermont |
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| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1844 |
| Built by | Twing, Joshua |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 78000248 |
| Added to NRHP | December 29, 1978 |
The Joshua Twing Gristmill is a really old and important building in Barre, Vermont. It was built way back in 1844. This building is special because it looks like a fancy Greek temple, even though it was used for grinding grain! Joshua Twing, who built it, was a clever inventor. He spent many years making better water wheels and machines for mills. This historic building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Contents
What Does the Joshua Twing Gristmill Look Like?
The Joshua Twing Gristmill is located north of downtown Barre. You can find it in an area where many factories used to be. It sits between a road and some old railroad tracks. A river called the Stevens Branch of the Winooski River is also nearby.
The building is made of brick and has a pointed roof. It is about two or three stories tall. The windows have stone sills and tops.
Unique Stair Tower and Inside Features
One cool part of the building is a special stair tower in the middle. The bottom part of this tower is open on the sides. This allowed wagons to drive right underneath it! A large entrance on the second floor used to have stairs leading up to it. These stairs are gone now.
Inside the stair tower, there are trap doors. These doors helped move goods up to the third floor of the building. The inside of the gristmill also has fancy features. These include a cool double-spiral staircase and columns that look like marble. This fancy style is called Greek Revival architecture.
Who Was Joshua Twing?
Joshua Twing bought this land in 1807. At that time, there was already a sawmill and a gristmill on the property. Over many years, Joshua Twing built several mills and industrial buildings here. The gristmill we see today is the only one that is still standing.
What Did Joshua Twing Do?
Twing's main business was making iron parts. He built a foundry in 1818 to do this. He made parts for mills, like waterwheels and possibly turbines. These machines use the power of water to do work. He also ground grains for people, which is what a gristmill does.
These buildings were used until the early 1900s to make water power technology. Most of the other buildings in the complex were torn down in the 1960s.
