Old Brandon Mill

Duane's take

Here's how the marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. Way back in 1868, a man named Dr. Jas.

T. Harrington set his sights on a stretch of Hill County and decided it needed two things at once: a town and a mill to feed it. So he built both.

The town he founded he called Brandon. The mill, well, folks just came to know it as the Old Brandon Mill, one of the earliest grist mills in all of Hill County. Now a grist mill wasn't a luxury out here.

It was as close to a necessity as a roof over your head. Corn meal was basic to the settlers' diet, and if you couldn't grind your corn, you couldn't make your bread, and if you couldn't make your bread, your settlement had a short future. Dr.

Harrington understood that math plain and simple. He built a dam on White Rock Creek, right near the mill site, to pull water in as the power source for the millhouse. That creek kept the stones turning, and those stones kept the people fed.

For nearly fifty years, that grist mill served a wide area. Families came from well beyond Brandon to bring their corn and carry home meal. Where bread could be made, settlements thrived, and that's not poetry, that's just how it worked on the Texas frontier.

A good water supply and a grist mill were essential to a successful town, and Dr. Harrington had the foresight to put both in place from the very beginning. Today, if you walk that ground in Hill County, only the stone foundations of Old Brandon Mill remain.

The creek still runs. The stones are quiet. But for nearly fifty years, they did their work.

What the marker says

One of earliest grist mills in Hill County. Built (1868) by Dr. Jas. T. Harrington, who also founded town of Brandon. Corn meal, basic to settlers' diet, was ground here. Dr. Harrington built a dam on White Rock Creek near here as a water source for power in the millhouse. His grist mill served a wide area for nearly 50 years. A grist mill was a primary need in every early community. Where bread could be made, settlements thrived. A good water supply and a grist mill were essential to a successful town. Today only stone foundations of Old Brandon Mill remain.