Water-powered Gristmills of Union County, Pennsylvania tells Union County's history through the development of its gristmills and the people who owned and operated them, with detailed profiles of every water-powered gristmill to have operated in the county and the historical and economic context in which gristmills flourished. These mills became centers of early communities, and remained vital components of the local agricultural economy, remaining commercially viable for far longer than anywhere else in the US. When they closed, they might briefly have served as chicken coops or electrical power plants, but for the most part they
simply were salvaged for building materials or fell into ruin. Fully illustrated with maps, charts, and photographs.