Daisy Flower Mill, Inc - Rochester, NY
Posted by: 
sagefemme
N 43° 08.815 W 077° 30.735
18T E 295714 N 4780193
Now a first rate restaurant and banquet facility, this was one of hte last remaining flour mills of the Flour City. It has also been called Dugway Mills and Sperry Mills at 1880 Blossom Road, Rochester, NY 14625.
Waymark Code: WMDFY2
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 01/10/2012
Views: 5
The mill itself was built in 1848, as a two and a half story rectangle with a gable roof. The original framing of heavy hewn wall posts wall plate were suplemented by 5" x 5" sawn studs and knee braces with morticed joints. Wall-to-wall girders support the second and attic floors. The is framed without a ridgepole with sawn rafters. The board and batten siding on the exterior dates from 1966, sheathing wide sawn boards that arethought to be origninal. On the east side of the building stands a grain silo and loading dock with overhanging hood. An addition was built in 1912 on the west side, and there are several attached sheds on the south end of the building.
Also part of the NRHP are three mill workers' houses The first dates to the 1840s, the second to 1870, and the third was built in the 1890s.
"Between the opening of the Erie Canal and the Civil War, Rochester was the nation's leading center for the flour milling industry. A century later the only mill with a Rochester address that is still grinding flour is the Daisy Flour Mill." (
visit link) Rochester lost its place as leading flower miller first to Buffalo, and eventually to Minneapolis.
Even so, the Daisy Flour Mill has been in continued operation since it was built in 1848 and the equipment dates from the 1890's. The alterations to the mill have been functional ones to meet changing conditions, demands of space and technological advances. The mill was operated on water power with two water wheels until 1934 when a severe freeze and sudden thaw took out the dam, after which the mill was converted to diesel and later to electicity.
I had never been to Daisy Flour Mill - the restaurant - in the 1970's after this property was listed, but a friend came home in the early 1980's with a bag of Daisy Flour Mill flour after a dinner engagement. It's been a long time since I want to the Daisy Flour Mill for dinner, but I do recall that guests could see bags of fresh ground flour on display with the deserts.