{"nrhp_refnum":"74001647","name":"Kister Mill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of Twnshp. Rds. 34 and 228","address_restricted":false,"city":"Millbrook","county":"Wayne County","state":"OH","lat":40.72655060100004,"lon":-82.00471099799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-07-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A working water-powered mill complex at the junction of Township Roads 34 and 228 in the village of Millbrook, Wayne County, Ohio. The present braced-frame building dates to 1894 and was built by the Kister family on an earlier mill site.","why_significant":"The nomination calls the mill unique in Ohio as the last remaining milling enterprise operated by a waterwheel. It is a practical working mill, not a restoration, offering a circular sawmill, grist mill and cider press. Its structure, equipment and services have continued without a break since the 1880s and 1894.","narrative":"Millbrook, in Wayne County, Ohio, once supported a large milling industry, and the Kister Mill at the end of the village's half-mile mill race is what remains. The Kister family bought a fulling mill site around 1850 and converted it to grist milling. A wood and metal shop was added in 1881. In 1894 the old mill was dismantled and the present braced-frame building was raised from its materials. It has an open shed with a circular sawmill, an enclosed shed with a cider press, and a roller mill for cereal grains. Power comes from an overshot waterwheel in a separate structure, driving belt-powered line shafts. The current wheel, built in 1967, is the third since 1894. The nomination holds that the mill is the last milling enterprise in Ohio run by a waterwheel, and that it is a working operation rather than a restoration, in excellent condition with continuous service.","period_of_significance":"19th and 20th centuries; specific date 1894","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Stated to be in excellent condition, occupied and in industrial use; the mill has never been idle since 1894 and is still operating.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.285015-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/74001647.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001647/542409ee95-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001647/542409ee95-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KISTER_MILL.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ MD</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KISTER_MILL.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71991988","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138763942"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/wayne-county/kister-mill-74001647/"}