San Saba Grist Mill -- Mill Pond Park, San Saba TX
N 31° 11.707 W 098° 42.741
14R E 527404 N 3451262
A grist mill from the 1880s on display at San Saba's Mill Pond Park
Waymark Code: WMTTJ3
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/06/2017
Views: 2
In 1875, Guy Riesen damned Mill Creek to run a small hydraulic dam and irrigation system to bring water to his garden and the farms of a few nearby neighbors, and keep water troughs for horses at the courthouse full. Later reason sold his property John Brown, who used the dam and built a larger waterwheel to power his grist mill, which operated here for several decades.
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Today the mill house and the historic waterwheel are preserved and on display in the old millrace near Mill Pond Dam.
A state historic marker on the Mill Pond House reads as follows:
"MILL POND HOUSE
Structure of great value to community in early days. Erected about 1875 by John H. ("Shorty") Brown (1817-96), one of founders of San Saba, in 1850s. This building housed machinery of gristmill (which ground corn meal, for bread) and a cotton gin. It was run by water power supplied by San Saba Springs. After mill was in disuse, city water system machinery was housed here. San Saba Garden Club restored the building after acquisition, 1956.
Recorded Texas historic landmark - 1962"