{"nrhp_refnum":"76001337","name":"Kerr Mill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"W of Mill Bridge on Sloan Rd., S of NC 1768","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mill Bridge","county":"Rowan County","state":"NC","lat":35.51985328600006,"lon":-80.42229376899996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick grist mill on Kerr Creek near Millbridge in Rowan County, North Carolina, built in the early 1820s, probably for Joseph Kerr.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an unusually handsome and substantial brick grist mill, one of the few brick antebellum grist mills in the state. It was run by Dr. Samuel Kerr through much of the nineteenth century and produced large quantities of flour and corn meal in 1850 and 1860. It operated until the 1940s.","narrative":"Kerr Mill is a two-story brick grist mill in a wide creek bottom near Millbridge, Rowan County. Three bays wide and two deep, it rests on a stone foundation that opens to a full basement on the creek side. The brick is laid in four-to-one bond, with molded brick cornices, gauged brick flat arches and a board-and-batten Dutch door at the center of the front. Inside, sawn and chamfered timber framing and exposed brick walls survive, along with milling equipment on every level. The mill was probably built between 1820 and 1824 for Joseph Kerr and was later run by his son, Dr. Samuel Kerr, who was a physician, farmer and state senator. In 1850 it produced 360 barrels of flour and 3,000 bushels of corn meal, and in 1860 it produced 1,500 barrels of flour. It operated until the 1940s. It is listed as one of the few brick antebellum grist mills in North Carolina, and local preservation was planned.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Mill is not in working order; it was used for office and storage space after the 1940s, and local restoration was planned. The form checks the property as unoccupied.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.48517-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/14/7221/47722114/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/76001337.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001337/d7563a5b99-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001337/d7563a5b99-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ncpappy","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2012-09-24_17-20-58_321_Kerr_Mill.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ncpappy</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:2012-09-24_17-20-58_321_Kerr_Mill.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722114","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerr_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19864273"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/rowan-county/kerr-mill-76001337/"}