Mansfield Mill

Duane's take

Well, here's my telling of what the official marker has to say: so let's get into it. Two men. Same birth year, 1825.

Julian Feild and Ralph Mann. They crossed paths in Harrison County, Texas, around 1850, and something about that meeting stuck. Because about four years later, they went into business together; built a mill near the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River.

That was around 1854. A promising start. But these two weren't done moving.

In 1856, they came south of Fort Worth, and what they found at this particular site was the ruins of a mill: one that a man named Charles Turner had constructed before them. Now, ruins aren't exactly a ringing endorsement of a location. But Mann and Feild looked at those ruins and apparently saw something worth building on.

So they got to work. With the help of local settlers and a brickmaker by the name of S.W.A. Hook (born in 1836), the two partners raised a three-story steam-powered wheat and corn mill during the winter of 1859 into 1860.

Three stories. Steam-powered. Out here south of Fort Worth.

That was not a small undertaking. And that mill pulled in business from as far as San Antonio all the way up to the Oklahoma Territory. Word travels when the work is good.

A community grew up around that mill, and that community was given the name Mansfeild (spelled with an e, as it happens), which is the city now known as Mansfield. Then came the Civil War. The Confederate Government stepped in and collected a certain proportion of the mill's output for its own use.

The mill kept grinding, but not entirely for Mann and Feild. After the war, the direction of those contracts shifted; government contracts were secured to supply flour for Federal forts. The mill had served one government, then served another.

It just kept turning. Julian Feild sold his interest in the mill in 1874. Ralph Mann, who would live all the way to 1906, carried on.

And the mill itself kept running well into the early part of the twentieth century before it finally wound down. Since then, this site has been used as a memorial to World War I veterans and for municipal offices. Two purposes that, in their own way, say something about what a place becomes when it outlasts its original work.

A couple of men met in Harrison County around 1850. They built something together. And the city of Mansfield grew up around what they made.

That's where it started; right here.

What the marker says

Julian Feild (1825-1897) and Ralph Mann (1825-1906) became acquainted in Harrison County, Texas, about 1850. About 1854 they built a mill near the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River. The two business partners came south of Fort Worth in 1856 and at this site found the ruins of a mill that had ben constructed by Charles Turner. With the help of local settlers and brickmaker S.W.A. Hook (1836-1917), Mann and Feild built a three-story steam-powered wheat and corn mill during the winter of 1859-60. The mill attracted business from San Antonio to the Oklahoma Territory. The community that developed around the mill was given the name "Mansfeild" (now Mansfield). During the Civil War, The Confederate Government collected for its use a certain proportion of the mill's output. After the War, Government contracts were secured to supply flour for Federal forts. Julian Feild sold his interest in the mill in 1874. The mill continued in operation until the early part of the 20th century. The site has been used since that time as a Memorial to World War I veterans and for municipal offices. It is a historic site as the beginning of the City of Mansfield. (1985)