{"nrhp_refnum":"76001208","name":"Busti Mill","other_names":["The Old Mill"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Lawson Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Busti","county":"Chautauqua County","state":"NY","lat":42.033878661000074,"lon":-79.28092011599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-07-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half-story clapboard grist mill on a stone foundation on Lawson Road, about a mile from the hamlet of Busti, Chautauqua County, New York. It was built sometime between 1820 and 1850, and the exact date and builder are unknown.","why_significant":"The mill recalls the agrarian way of life that is fading from the rural landscape. Its exterior retains integrity, and much of its original milling machinery survives, which is extremely unusual for a building of this type. It is one of the few remaining small-scale grist mills of western New York's flour-milling era.","narrative":"Set on a knoll about a mile from the hamlet of Busti in Chautauqua County, this grist mill is the only industrial building left in the community. It stands one and a half stories high at the front and two and a half at the rear, with clapboard siding, a gable roof and a stone foundation. Features of the structure point to a construction date between 1820 and 1850, though no precise date is known. The mill ran under a succession of owners until 1948, then passed to the town and, in 1973, to the Busti Historical Society. Much of its machinery survives, including a wooden mainshaft, a large wooden gear ring and a twenty-foot bolting reel. Few small mills of this kind keep so much equipment, which is why the property is recognized as a reminder of the farming economy of western New York. It is being rehabilitated as a community center and museum space.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Abandoned for almost twenty years before the historical society acquired it in 1971; being rehabilitated as a community center and storage for local artifacts, with repairs under way.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.190482-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/76001208.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001208/dc364aab94-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001208/dc364aab94-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Busti_Mill_Jul_12.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Busti_Mill_Jul_12.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316757","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busti_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5002185"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/chautauqua-county/busti-mill-76001208/"}