Millstone - Thome's Mill - Athens, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 40° 35.174 W 091° 41.759
15T E 610354 N 4493643
Stones at the top of the bluff, behind the Thome-Benning House, above the mill ruins
Waymark Code: WMMPY7
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 10/22/2014
Views: 2
County of stones: Clark County
Location of stones: MO-CC, Battle of Athens State Historic Site, (St. Louis St. & Virginia St.), behind Benning House, Athens
Text on boulder next to millstones:
"Boars from mill build in 1844"
"Built about 1843 by Arthur Thome, an immigrant from Kentucky and owner of Athens' first grist mill, this house was acquired by Joseph Benning on the eve of the Civil War. A cannonball fired from the artillery of the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard hit the Benning house, perhaps inadvertently, during the August 5, 1861, Battle of Athens." ~ Missouri Department of Natural Resources
E. F. Colton Grist & Textile Mill (ca. 1858) - E. F. Colton acquired the mill before the Civil War battle - Easily the largest structure in Athens the mill built here in 1858 stood over four stories high, on top of its 30-foot stone foundation! It was the third structure built at the site and likely operated for the next couple decades until, in 1886, a railroad bridge was built downstream led to the town and mill's failure.