{"nrhp_refnum":"90001613","name":"Brobst Mill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Off T 814 on Pine Cr., Albany Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lenhartsville","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.62324029800004,"lon":-75.89700621999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story stone and log gristmill on Pine Creek in rural Albany Township, Lenhartsville, Berks County, Pennsylvania, with a surviving stone-walled wheel pit of its raceway. The mill is dated to about 1780 and is attributed in the form to Michael Brobst's family line.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the mill is significant under Criteria A and C: as the only remaining log-constructed mill in the county survey, it represents an 18th-century building method that was later abandoned, and as the surviving structure of a once-thriving iron works and milling complex that served the area for about 175 years.","narrative":"Built around 1780 on Pine Creek in rural Albany Township, this two-and-a-half-story gristmill has a stone first floor and log upper walls with squared, notched corners. Its second floor keeps an open mill floor plan with hand-hewn joists and a summer beam running the full length of the building, and a miller's office in one corner. The mill is tied to the Brobst family, early settlers who held a patent from the Penns in the 1730s, and a 1767 tax list names Michael Brobst as a miller. Later the site was linked to an iron works, and the mill supplied flour to its workers. After the ironworks closed, the mill ground grain for local farmers and was known for its fine cornmeal. The Long family operated it into the early 1960s. The nomination regards it as the only known surviving structure from the iron works and as a rare surviving example of log mill construction in Berks County.","period_of_significance":"C 1780-1939","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Mill operation ceased in the 1960s; the document states the mill is now vacant, and that the present owners are restoring it.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.806288-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/90001613.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001613/6000fae8ba-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001613/6000fae8ba-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Shuvaev","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brobst_Mill,_BerksCo_PA.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Shuvaev</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:Brobst_Mill,_BerksCo_PA.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992342","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brobst_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4972593"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/brobst-mill-90001613/"}