{"nrhp_refnum":"90001628","name":"Rieser Mill","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Jct. of Grange and Cross Keys Rds., Bern Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Leesport","county":"Berks County","state":"PA","lat":40.26991086800007,"lon":-75.97406848199995,"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 banked stone merchant gristmill on Grange Road about one mile south of Leesport in Berks County, Pennsylvania, built in 1825, with an adjoining T-shaped stone and brick miller's house begun in 1784 and enlarged in the late 1800s.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the mill is important for its association with the county gristmill industry and the 'great rebuilding' of Berks County mills between 1818 and 1870, and that it is representative of Berks County merchant mills of the period. The Rieser family's long milling history from the 1700s through the 1900s is also cited as significant.","narrative":"Rieser Mill is a banked stone gristmill on Grange Road, about a mile south of Leesport in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The original stone section, measuring 45 feet 7 inches by 41 feet 6 inches, rises two and a half stories over a basement and carries the date 1825 on its hoist hood. A water-powered gristmill has operated on the site since early in the eighteenth century, when Jacob Rieser established a log mill after emigrating from Switzerland in 1726. The 1825 rebuilding by Abraham Rieser replaced the water wheel with turbines. The mill is regarded as a typical example of the merchant mills that replaced colonial mills across Berks County between 1818 and 1870. Its extra storage floor, limestone walls and red sandstone quoins reflect that building type. Beside it stands the stone and brick miller's house, begun in 1784 by John Jacob Rieser, with a later brick rear wing and remodeling from the mid-to-late 1800s.","period_of_significance":"1784 to 1939","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Stone vernacular style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The form states the mill ceased operating after the last miller, Robert Heck, was forced to discontinue due to difficulty maintaining water power; the miller's house is occupied by a Rieser family member.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:37.254202-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/90001628.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001628/c3def528ba-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90001628/c3def528ba-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Shuvaev","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rieser_Mill,_BerksCo_PA_05.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:Rieser_Mill,_BerksCo_PA_05.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992386","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rieser_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7333160"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/berks-county/rieser-mill-90001628/"}